“He’s barely breathing, how many times do I have to tell you?” she says, cursing at the dispatcher.

“O.K., you know what ma’am?” Mr. Sanchez says. “You can deal with this yourself. I’m not going to deal with this, O.K.?” Ms. Quintero responds that her “friend is dying” before the phone call is terminated.

Mr. Chavez-Silver was killed in a drive-by shooting and the police are still investigating his death, according to The Albuquerque Journal.

Melissa Romero, a spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Fire Department, said that Mr. Sanchez had dispatched an ambulance to the scene while still on the call with Ms. Quintero, and that it had arrived within four minutes and 26 seconds, a time she said was “well below the national average.” She said that because Mr. Chavez-Silver’s medical records were sealed, she could not say whether he was dead by the time the ambulance arrived. The Journal reported that he died at a hospital.

Ms. Romero said dispatchers were taught in detail how to respond to difficult calls. “Our dispatchers go through hundreds of hours of training, so that is included in that training,” she said.