The WNY Listening Post

Western New York’s Scanner-Fed Tabloid

Williamsville · 5330 Main Street

Knife-point mugging on Main near Union sends Amherst PD on a foot-search up to Wehrle

Male in white shirt and white pants pointed a large knife at a complainant in front of 5330 Main Street, took his wallet, and disappeared south of Union into the side streets

At 22:34, an Amherst PD unit broadcast that “at the corner of Main and Union, a male that had a knife menaced the complainant and took his wallet” — the suspect, the officer said a minute later, was a male in a “white shirt and white pants — pointed a large knife at the complainant”. Within seconds the broadcast tightened up: “we're working on a direction of travel now” and the officers had a direction-of-travel search going.

Cars were posted in front of 5330 Main Street while a 16-car set up with the victim — phonetically spelled on the air as Sean A.W. Ruth, DOB 1-1-86. From there the perimeter went out: “Union all the way to Wehrle — nothing on the main road, just start having cars on the side streets just south of Union”, with units placed on the residential blocks south of Union. By 22:45 the active search had stretched the better part of a mile up the Main–Union–Wehrle triangle, with no suspect in custody on the air by midnight.

Around the NeighborhoodThe Northtowns, call by call

Snyder · Eggert and Main

RESOLVED

“Four shots” at Eggert and Main turn into spinning tires and a revving engine

At 20:31, an Amherst PD dispatcher pushed a unit to check Eggert and Main on a “shots-heard complaint” — a caller from 1239 Eggert had heard “one shot followed by three more about two minutes ago”. Side 4, number 8 was started as cover and the responding officer canvassed the immediate area.

By 20:34 the resolution was on the air and it was much less dramatic than the dispatch made it sound: neighbors “heard tires spinning and cars revving around the same time — so likely a vehicle”. The case file closed as a vehicle noise complaint, not a shooting.

Amherst · Tonawanda BOLO at Lincoln Park

ONGOING

Tonawanda hand-off to Amherst PD: female with a gun in her purse, drinking at Lincoln Park with her kids, last seen heading north in a gray Kia Sorento

At 20:47 an Amherst PD car was sent to 75 Bearhaven Drive for a welfare check that had walked over the town line. According to dispatch, Tonawanda PD had “a female at Lincoln Park that was drinking with her kids — apparently she had a gun in her purse — she left in a 2018 Kia Sorento, color gray” — the gun information alone bumped what would otherwise have been a domestic-mom complaint into a take-the-call-seriously category. The plate (George‑Michael‑David 2123) came back to the welfare-check address. By 20:48 the officer was on location and chose a code-soft approach, telling dispatch he believed the call was really about “they just wanted to check her welfare because she was drinking with the kids”.

East Amherst · 18 Viscount Drive

RESOLVED

East Amherst fire alarm on Viscount Drive turns out to be a grease flare that put itself out

At 15:24, Amherst Fire Dispatch put crews on 18 Viscount Drive in East Amherst, off Dolphin Drive, for “a fire alarm activation — the basement, smoke, and CO”. Snyder M1 was on location at 15:33 and within seven minutes the IC was back on the air with a tidy resolution: “we had a grease flare and it still appears to be out — we're going to be checking for inspections tomorrow”. Inspectors would follow up the next day.


Overheard: The WiresCops, cabbies, custodians, dispatchers — off-script

Niagara Region · BuffaloLimo dispatch

The customer who didn’t care what BuffaloLimo charged — he just had to dump it today

BuffaloLimo dispatch, 15:57, in the tone of someone retelling a story that just confirmed a long-held suspicion about humanity: “he said that as long as he was able to dump it today, he didn't care what we charged him”. And then, six seconds later, the punchline: “it was literally a small wheelbarrow load”. A man with a small wheelbarrow load of something who absolutely had to get it off his hands today, at any price. The brief’s readers are invited to construct their own theory about what was in the wheelbarrow.

Amherst · PD vs. an old Knox box

Amherst PD vs. an older-model lockbox: “Grace.” “Number six.” “Saving, that’s the sound we’re hearing.”

At 05:32, an Amherst PD officer at a welfare-check address radioed back the kind of detail that turns a routine call into theater: “it's an older type of box, but it looks like it accepts some sort of a numeric code, if you have one for me”. A series of carefully spelled-out characters followed across the next four minutes — a first name relayed for translation to keypad strokes, then “Grace”, then “number six”, then the sound of a partial success: “saving, that's the sound we're hearing”. By 05:38, the verdict on what was waiting for them was anti-climactic: “there was nothing in the Knox box with that, so it's been returned”.

Niagara Region · BuffaloLimo at 3 a.m.

BuffaloLimo at 3 a.m.: “We’re cleared to come and burn our house down”

From the deep-night BuffaloLimo channel, 03:03, with the calm of a dispatcher delivering ordinary instructions: “we're cleared to come and burn our house down, if you just want to hear how we get down”. No context. No follow-up. Just clearance, granted on the air, to come home and torch the place — if you wanted to listen in for how it was going.

Niagara Region · BuffaloLimo signing off

BuffaloLimo dispatcher signs off for the night: “Have fun in the area, everybody. And please, enough cancer tellers.”

BuffaloLimo, 22:22, with the kind of two-line farewell that suggests the speaker has had a long evening with callers and intends to stop having one: “have fun in the area, everybody — and please, enough cancer tellers”. Whether “cancer tellers” is a Whisper transcription mash of “cancellers” (riders backing out on rides) or something stranger is left as a puzzle for the reader. Either way, “time for a break”.

Niagara Region · Embassy Suites shuttle ops

Embassy Suites shuttle dispatch, mid-evening: “I’ve got bingo in 10 minutes and there’s more guests for baseball”

The Embassy Suites shuttle channel runs a steady stream of micro-logistics that read, with no editorial assistance required, as comedy. 17:52, Embassy Control: “I've got bingo in 10 minutes and there's more guests for baseball”. Sixteen minutes later: “there's one lady waiting outside for bingo at Double 3”. And the answer, naturally: “10-4, I'll come around”.


Regional BlotterBeyond the Northtowns — WNY at large

Niagara County · Burt’s Circle structure fire

RESOLVED

Niagara County “hostile house fire” called in directly: Burt’s Circle off North 5th

At 19:31, Niagara County Fire Control put it on the air the way they only do when the call came in from someone who could see flame: “possible house fire called in directly this evening — no further information available”, followed seconds later by “hostile house fire 410-410 at Burt's Circle off of North 5th”. The fireground itself ran on a separate channel beyond this window; nothing on the air rose to a regional mutual-aid call.

West Seneca · 217 Brookside Drive working fire

RESOLVED

Pre-dawn structure fire in West Seneca pulls Amherst Fire across the county line on a FAST team

At 04:51, Amherst Fire Dispatch toned a mutual-aid call to 217 Brookside Drive in West Seneca for what came across as a working structure fire — the dispatcher noting “if you're a fast team, you're going to be the second” so the Amherst rig would slot in second behind the host department. Crews were instructed to respond “straight to the scene”. By 06:53, units were back in service from the West Seneca scene, no on-air injury report.

Buffalo · 846 Delaware Avenue

RESOLVED

Buffalo Fire works a commercial fire alarm at the Child & Family Services carriage house on Delaware

At 20:07, Buffalo Fire was toned out for a “signal to investigate, activated commercial fire alarm” at 846 Delaware Avenue, between Barker and Bryant — the “carriage house” on the Child & Family Services campus. Engine 2, Engine 37, and Ladder 4 took it as a level-2 commercial response; no further escalation on the air.

Other Calls of Note

[22:18]Williamsville · Imperial Drive Amherst Fire dispatched on an odor of smoke at 111 Imperial Drive, between Majestic Circle and Regency Court (the Chapman residence) — traced to an odor of burning plastic; no fire.
[22:12]Buffalo · 300 Dorrance Buffalo Fire ran a level-3 odor-of-natural-gas at the 300 Dorrance nursing home, between Hancock and Ward; meters showed zero readings on arrival, no hazard.
[22:27]Buffalo · East Utica BFD EMS to 237 East Utica, between Masten and Purdy, for a possible stroke; standard EMS-assist response.
[21:51]Buffalo · Marine Drive Buffalo Fire to 47 Marine Drive, between Erie Street and the Marine Drive apartments, on a citizen-assist for a tenant locked out with medication inside the apartment; level-1 response.
[00:40]Buffalo · Alabama and South BFD EMS to Alabama and South, on a report of a “person down by the railroad tracks”; standard EMS response.
[02:24]Buffalo · Car into a tree Buffalo Fire to a “car into a tree” — driver out of the vehicle and walking around on arrival; Engine 2 handled, Ladder 4 picked up.
[02:55]Buffalo · 79 Arden — abandoned vehicle Buffalo Parking Enforcement called in a “bluish Nissan at 79 Arden, smashed up, windows smashed out, no plates on the car” — considered an officer visit before settling for a write-up.
[23:18]Williamsville · Strathmore Apartments CO detectors set off in a Williamsville apartment — Amherst Fire traced the source to the stove, {quote:q1}; National Fuel was on location for follow-up.

Editor’s Note

A late-Juneteenth evening rolled into a quiet Saturday morning, with one Williamsville moment that sharpened the air around 10:30 p.m.: an Amherst PD officer broadcast that a male in a white shirt and pants had pointed a large knife at a complainant at Main and Union and taken his wallet, sending units to perimeter the side streets south of Union all the way out to Wehrle. A separate “shots fired” complaint at Eggert and Main turned out to be tires spinning and engines revving. East Amherst’s fire-alarm activation on Viscount Drive (3:24 p.m.) was a grease flare that put itself out. Two structure fires in the wider region: a hostile house fire on Burt’s Circle in Niagara County around 7:31 p.m., and a pre-dawn working fire in West Seneca that pulled Amherst Fire across the county line on a FAST team at 4:51 a.m. Weather: mostly sunny, 72° / 55°.

Daily Gem

He said that as long as he was able to dump it today, he didn't care what we charged him — it was literally a small wheelbarrow load”

— BuffaloLimo dispatch, 15:57

By the Numbers

Segments
2,185
Active systems
30
Busiest hour
22:00–23:00 (knife mugging on Main, plus three Buffalo Fire calls)
Regional Breaking
0
Updates
0
By Agency (top 5)
BucketSegs
Fire / EMS730
Police410
Airport / aviation297
Maritime164
Hotel / shuttle / taxi125
By Area (top 5)
BucketSegs
Williamsville & Amherst605
Maritime / waterway164
Buffalo120
Niagara Region117
Wyoming County48

Agency & area buckets are estimated from ProScan channel labels and channel-context inference; raw counts come from export_transcript.py.

The WNY Listening Post · Saturday, June 20, 2026 · A.M. Edition · Vol. I, No. 42
Compiled from public radio scanner traffic via the WNY Listening Post automated pipeline. Transcriptions are AI-generated and may contain errors; verify names and details before action.