Police Investigate Family's Claim 911 Calls Went Unanswered

STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. - The victim's mother said she was sitting in her car outside the store talking to her daughter, who was in the store, on the phone. The woman saw a man duck under the security gate to enter the store.

"We were on the phone talking and the guy went in and then she just hung up," the woman said.

The woman tried to call her daughter, but when she didn't pick up, she texted her, asking if she was being robbed. Receiving no reply she and her son immediately called police.

"We immediately start calling 911 from both cell phones, no answer, " she said.

A police spokesman told FOX 5, "When dialing 911 in Dekalb County, even if all the operators are on calls, the caller should get the 911 hold message advising them not to hang up and to stay on the line waiting for the next available operator."

As three robbers terrorized the staff and customers inside the store, the woman says she dialed 911 repeatedly, but claims the phone just rang.

"My son is on the phone he is calling 911 I'm calling I'm just like oh my God I can't believe they aren't answering the phone... They finally picked up by 8:03 but by then my daughter had already gotten through," she said.

Her daughter started calling police after the suspects fled the store and says she couldn't get through.

"They need to be quicker you know there's an armed robbery going and you mean to tell me no one can answer I feel like had they answered when my mother and brother were initially calling it wouldn't have gotten as far as it did but the fact that even after the robbery I'm still calling you and then you call me back it was just like ‘oh okay what happened’ I was just robbed in the store, there was just an armed robbery in the store."

That's right.  After no one answered their initial calls, the victim claims an emergency dispatcher called her back, inquiring about a missed call. DeKalb County Police are looking into the women's claims. "We have already reached out to AT&T and had all of our 911 trunks checked and tested and there were no issues found, our phone system vendor has also conducted checks and no issues were found."