WATAUGA, Texas -- A 911 dispatcher in Texas has been reprimanded for responding to a mother's call about an unruly child by saying: "OK. Do you want us to come over to shoot her?"

The dispatcher in a suburb of Fort Worth apologized.

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911 Operator Reprimanded For Untimely Joke

"I admit what I did. It was stupid, it was inexcusable and I'm sorry," said dispatcher Mike Forbess.

The woman says she called 911 after coming home to find her daughters fighting. She told the dispatcher her 12-year-old had kicked a hole in the door. The woman said the 12-year-old was physically the same size as the woman, and she could not get the girl under control.

After Forbess' comment, the woman fell silent for about five seconds.

"Are you there?" Forbess asked.

"Excuse me?" the woman asked.

Forbess, a dispatcher for five years at the Watauga Department of Public Safety, told her he was joking and apologized. But the woman was offended.

Forbess also told his supervisor what had happened after it became clear that the caller wasn't at all amused.

The police chief has written at letter to the dispatcher saying he'll be fired for "any future unprofessional responses."

The operator has received two letters of reprimand. The caller said she would file a formal complaint with Watauga officials.

Last month, a state trooper in Connecticut was suspended for 15 days without pay, after saying "too bad" to a 911 caller seeking help for the victim of a motorcycle accident.