Yesterday (Jan. 5), 911 audio of a call made to Nashville, Tennessee emergency dispatchers was released. The bone-chilling conversation revealed the final moments of Michaela Carter’s life before it was tragically cut short by her ex-boyfriend.

In November 2021, Carter pleaded with emergency personnel to send help after her former beau, James Leggett, showed up at her residence. According to local news station WZTV 17, court documents revealed she already had an order of protection in place because he reportedly used a glass bottle to beat her five months before. As she begged the dispatcher to send help, the Nashville woman was bombarded with irrelevant questions that wasted time and ultimately cost Carter her life, her family claims.

“We’ve been going through this all day. We’ve been talking to police. The police just left from checking my house. When they pulled off, he walks up, and he’s coming to the door now. He has a gun,” Carter said on the tape. Soon after, Leggett reportedly kicked down a door and began firing his weapon. Cries of terror were heard as the woman witnessed one of her relatives being struck with bullets. “Help me, Lord. Help me, Lord. Help me, Lord. Help me, Lord. Help me, Lord,” Carter begged while still on the phone. The ex-boyfriend then shot her as well. Nashville police confirmed she died days after the incident from gunshot wounds to her chest and leg.

Daniel Horwitz, an attorney for the family, released the recording as a plea for justice. “I am horrified by a great many things in the call, including the shocking rudeness of the dispatcher while Ms. Carter was in imminent danger, afraid for her life, and ultimately murdered,” Horwitz wrote to council members.

In November 2022, Carter’s mother, Kimberly Jones-Mbuyi, filed a lawsuit against the Metro Nashville Police Department. She alleged responders “did not take the situation seriously and privately joked about it” and added that Leggett kicked in the door to Carter’s home only 10 minutes after police left. Court documents noted he made Facebook posts saying, “Today is the day” and “Somebody with nothing to lose won’t give a f**k when s**t gets real. Don’t ask me why” leading up to Carter’s death.