PHOENIX

'What should I do?': Frightened driver's 911 call before State Route 51 shooting in Phoenix offers chilling details

Megan Cassidy
The Republic | azcentral.com
Dinya Farmer.

A Phoenix woman told a 911 operator that three men chasing her were right next to her just moments before she was gunned down on State Route 51, according to a transcript of the call released Monday by Phoenix police.

Police said Dinya Farmer, 49, was in the middle of a call with the operator at the time she was fatally shot Sept. 7.

Farmer had described the men and the type of vehicle trailing her, but investigators have yet to name any suspects or make an arrest.

Though an Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman released basic elements of the murder earlier this month, Monday's transcript offers chilling details of the final moments of the Phoenix mother of three.

The call opens with Farmer telling the 911 operator she was on Seventh Avenue, about to enter the freeway, before noticing three men in a white truck following her.

"They started at Broadway and Seventh Avenue following me. They pulled up and was gonna get outta their truck and like they're following me now on the freeway," she said.

Farmer initially told the operator she was driving on SR 51 before being corrected by the operator, who said it appeared she was on Interstate 10.

'They're behind me but I don't know what to do'

"I'm sorry, I'm just nervous," Farmer said after acknowledging she was still on I-10.

"They're behind me but I don't know what to do," Farmer said.

Farmer tells the operator there are three men in a white "work" truck. She is unable to provide the license-plate number but says one of the men is wearing an "army" shirt.

At one point, the operator asks Farmer to hold on for a second, that they are going to take more information from her.

"Okay," Farmer says. "What should I do?"

The operator keeps asking questions and tries to get more detail about how the men tried to approach Farmer's car.

The connection appears to cut out for a moment before Farmer confirms if the operator can still hear her.

"Okay, yeah, they're right next to me," she said, before the transcript describes an "unknown noise" heard on the phone.

No response from caller

The next several lines of the transcript describe the operator frantically and repeatedly asking if the caller is OK and if she's still there, to no response.

"Ma'am?!!! Hello?!!!"

State Route 51 chase, shooting in Phoenix stuns victim’s family

A short while later, the operator is heard speaking to another operator, and the two realize that a car involved in a collision and the car that had been chased were one and the same.

"It's plotting exactly where she is now," one operator says. "Your 962 at Thomas. The shots fired at Thomas."

"Ma'am?!!! Hello?!!! Are you there?

"This is dispatch. Is there anyone that can hear me?

"Hello?!

"Hello?!

"Hello?!

"This is dispatch! Trooper, can you hear me?"

Phoenix police seek work truck after woman fatally shot on SR 51

Farmer's car crashed into a concrete median on SR 51 just south of Thomas Road. Officers believe the shooting suspects exited the freeway at Thomas Road.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety received five or six 911 calls about 7:20 p.m. about a white work-type truck that had been driving aggressively.

If you have information on this or any other violent crime, police ask that you contact the Phoenix Police Department Violent Crimes Bureau at 602-262-6141 or contact Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS (480-948-6377) or toll-free at 800-343-TIPS.

Phoenix police: SR 51 shooting was not likely the result of random violence