Fearful To Call: 911 Call Made By The Man Who Turned In The Escaped Prisoner, Claims To Have Been Hesitant
LAS VEGAS, Nevada (KLAS) — The Las Vegas Shuttles manager, Gabriel Delgadillo, was hesitant to call 911. To report that escaped inmate Porfirio Duarte-Herrera was ready to board a bus to Mexico.
“But he’s been so natural. In an audio exchange released Friday by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, Delgadillo told the 911 dispatcher. “I was terrified just to call.” Delgadillo hinted in the 8:36-minute call that if the passenger wasn’t the escaped inmate, he might be causing unnecessary trouble.
“No, no, you did great,” the dispatcher says to Delgadillo.”… You can’t confirm it even if you don’t. The officers can handle that. But, you know, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
Delgadillo’s phone call resulted in Duarte-arrest Herrera’s around 9:30 p.m., a little more than five minutes after making the emergency call. Metro officers apprehended the escaped inmate from Indian Springs’ Southern Desert Correctional Center as he prepared to board a bus to Tijuana outside the shuttle service at 1404 N. Eastern Ave.
Duarte-Herrera was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in the 2007 Luxor parking lot bombing that killed Willebaldo Dorantes Antonio, 27, a casino hot dog stand worker.
Delgadillo stated that during the 911 call, a female dispatcher at the shuttle service thought a man who gave her Eric Martinez’s identification looked like an escaped inmate. He claimed that earlier that day, police went to the service to see if anyone resembling Duarte-Herrera was present. The officers’ search yielded no results, but they did leave a photograph of the escaped inmate.
Delgadillo claims in the call that his dispatcher called him after Duarte-Herrera purchased a ticket for a bus leaving for Tijuana at 10 p.m.
“She told me, ‘I’m not sure if I’m tripping or confused, but this guy who checked in with the name Eric Martinez looks a little bit like the guy in the picture,'” Delgadillo says.
“We can’t tell if he’s wearing a hat just by looking at the camera remotely.”
Delgadillo claims in the call that his dispatcher called him after Duarte-Herrera purchased a ticket for a bus leaving for Tijuana at 10 p.m.
“She told me, ‘I’m not sure if I’m tripping or confused, but this guy who checked in with the name Eric Martinez looks a little bit like the guy in the picture,'” Delgadillo says. “We can’t tell if he’s wearing a hat just by looking at the camera remotely.”
The 911 operator inquires of Delgadillo whether Duarte-Herrera is “on the property right now.”
He says he’s in the lobby, but when he looks outside, Duarte-Herrera is gone. Delgadillo eventually tells the dispatcher that video surveillance at the shuttle service shows him near the bus. “Yeah, the driver is just now checking his ticket…”
He also describes the clothes Duarte-Herrera is wearing, his height of “about 5-4”, and his hair color in the call.
Delgadillo informs the dispatcher that officers have arrived at the 5:36 mark of the call. “I see an officer approaching right now.”
He says the officers have him about two minutes later. “They’re already taking him.”
