Baltimore Shomrim received a hotline call just after
midnight Tuesday from a woman who was trapped with her children in a locked in a
storage rental facility in San Francisco. The email reportedly sent by Shomrim said the woman was "hysterical" and crying, and noted that the woman’s phone died during the call.
Updated at 5:02 pm CST
Baltimore Shomrim Saved Trapped Woman And Kids – In San Francisco
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
In an e-mail to supporters reportedly sent early Tuesday, Baltimore’s Shomrim said it helped rescue a woman and her children who were trapped in a locked storage locker – in San Francisco.
And as bizarre as the story may seem, it's true.
The Baltimore Sun and the North Baltimore Patch both reported that Baltimore Shomrim claimed to have received a hotline call just after midnight Tuesday from a woman who was trapped with her children in a locked in a storage rental facility in San Francisco. The email reportedly sent by Shomrim said the woman was "hysterical" and crying, and noted that the woman’s phone died during the call.
However, Shomrim says its dispatcher had enough information to know that the woman and her children were at a storage facility in San Francisco that was closed for the day.
Shomrim contacted San Francisco police, who called back later to say they had located the woman and children and freed them.
"We have no idea how the woman had Shomrim's hotline number, but it certainly worked out for the best," the Shomrim email reportedly said, emphasizing that the woman’s call for help was “the single most exceptional call in the last 7,300 that Shomrim has fielded since our founding."
Attempts by the Baltimore Sun and Baltimore Patch to confirm the story with San Francisco Police were not successful, allegedly due to the lack of certain details needed to track the incident.
San Francisco police had not yet responded to an email from FailedMessiah.com seeking to confirm the story at the time of this post.
Update 5:02 pm CST – I received a call from the San Francisco Police Department. They confirmed the story and were able to add a facinating bit of information.
The trapped woman speaks Spanish. Her English is limited. Police think that in her panic she mis-dialed one or two digits – the area code for much of San Francisco is 415, for much of Baltimore, including Shomrim's hotline, it is 410.
However it happened, she got Shomrim on the line and by all accounts its dispatcher did an excellent job of finding out what city the woman was in and getting her help.