Dispatcher praised for response in FSU shooting

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Saturday will mark one month since a gunman opened fire in Florida State's library. The officers who killed that gunman were cleared and celebrated by a grand jury this week, but the woman taking panicked phone calls is also being called a hero.

Camila Peralta has been with Florida State Police Dispatch since April and they're thankful she was on the job Nov. 20.
 
"Well it was a pretty, to say the dreaded ‘Q' word that every dispatcher dreads, it was pretty quiet," Peralta said.
 
Quiet turned to panic as Peralta took the first call from a person inside Strozier library when alum Myron May started shooting.
 
"My caller on 911 said that someone had a gun and that someone was shooting, so we went ahead and went into dispatch mode and got the guys there as soon as possible," said said.
 
Peralta said training instantly took over. She remained calm with the callers and was able to get police to the scene within minutes, before anything worse happened.

But she said that it wasn't just her. She said fellow dispatcher Rebecca Riggle played an equal role in getting officers through the crisis and preventing an even greater tragedy.
 
Peralta has been a dispatcher for either years, and this wasn't her first active shooter call.
 
"She has a history of performing well under those extreme pressures," said FSU Police Chief David Perry. "She was involved in the Ft. Hood shooting as a dispatcher, when that tragedy took place."
 
"My first phone call I got was a lady that had been shot in the abdomen at Ft. Hood, a soldier," Peralta said.
 
Her actions with the FSU shooting were praised by a grand jury that cleared the officers involved in stopping the shooter.
 
"Absolutely, she saved lives," said State Attorney Willie Meggs. "Had she not done the things that she did, officers would not have gotten there timely."

But Peralta doesn't think she's a hero.

"I don't feel that way," Peralta said. "I don't want to take any credit. We were safe in here and doing our job. The police officers, they're the true heroes. They ran towards the gunfire."

But there are plenty of people who are thankful she was on the other end of the line.