Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First

Initially alarming 911 call causes alarm throughout Bushnell, but prompts no arrests, results in no injuries

Initial reports of an injured female and a fire at a property on 1st Street in Bushnell that originated shortly before 8:00 P.M. Tuesday night turned out to be nothing more than a series of miscommunications.

The Kimball Volunteer Ambulance Service and several Sheriff Department vehicles sped down Highway 30 towards Bushnell after a call came in stating that there was a female at a Bushnell residence who had her throat slit.

However, according to Kimball County Sheriff Harry Gillway, when arriving on the scene, things were not as they had been made to seem.

“I was called to back Sergeant Brandon Loy up when another report came out that there was a man outside of the house that was possibly the perpetrator. I was on my way here when Brandon arrived at the scene. I rolled up and found out that no one’s throat was slashed. There was no assault whatsoever,” Gillway said.

After a brief period of confusion where Sergeant Loy and Sheriff Gillway had their guns drawn going into the situation while Bushnell residents looked on with a sense of dread, both the alleged victim and the suspect, an African American male estimated to be in his mid-twenties were both discovered and the previous reports received by emergency services were quickly disproven.

Loy approached the property donning his tactical vest and M-16 rifle, and Sheriff Gillway had his sidearm drawn as they wondered what may lie inside.

However, this ultimately proved to be unnecessary, as no firearms, nor weapons of any kind, were found on any person on the property.

“The alleged victim said that she was afraid of the male on the scene, but he didn’t assault her. We detained him briefly to make sure what his story was. Basically, all it was is that she says he’s been hallucinating all day, but he doesn’t show any signs of drug abuse or anything. However, she has had some citizen’s reports lately that she’s been drinking, but I didn’t see it there,” Gillway said.

When it comes to the report of a fire, Gillway has no explanation for its origin.

“The ambulance got a report from the fire department that the house was possibly on fire. I don’t know where that came from. It didn’t come from 911,” Gillway said.

Though the reports did not come from the female at the residence, she asked that the alleged suspect not be left in the area.

“She’s not the one that initiated the 911 call, but she still doesn’t want him in the house so she asked us if we would bring him home to his residence in Scottsbluff so we did,” Gillway said.

However, no arrests were made as there were no signs of any wrongdoing, leaving law enforcement officials to simply leave the area with little knowledge of what actually happened on the scene.

“Every once in a while we get these odd calls. Maybe once or twice a year, we’ll get some really off the wall call, and we just don’t know what happened. It’s just one of those things we get periodically where we get there and scratch our heads and say, ‘Why did you call 911?’”

 
 
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