'Mental Health Services Failed' IE Sheriff Addresses 2nd Shooting Of Teenager In Distress

INLAND EMPIRE, CA — An investigation is underway after the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department deputies shot and killed a teenage boy in the middle of a mental health crisis in Victorville Tuesday.

The boy's name was being withheld pending notification of next of kin, according to Sheriff Shannon Dicus in a recent news conference. This is the second time in a handful of weeks that the department has faced lethal engagements with teenagers in the midst of a mental health crisis,according to Dicus.

Just after 12:30 p.m., Victorville deputies arrived at a home in the 17100 block of Forest Hills Drive to find the teen, who had fled during transfer to a mental health facility and barricaded himself inside a bathroom with a knife where the officer-involved shooting took place.

He was reported as "an unwanted person" at a foster home where his two biological sisters live, Dicus said.

Arriving deputies were aware that the boy had fled the Desert Valley Hospital, where he was admitted for causing self-harm.

"Residents of that foster home called the police, seeking to have him removed," according to Dicus. There, they found the boy barricaded in the bathroom and armed with a knife.

Body-worn camera video, shown below, revealed the entrance to the bathroom and the altercation with the teen, where one deputy calls out, "He's got a knife! He's got a knife!"

The video is graphic and may be disturbing to some viewers.

According to Dicus, officers made multiple attempts to de-escalate the situation, including the use of pepper spray, prior to entry into the small bathroom.

"You can hear the subject coughing upon entry," Dicus said.

Deputies tried to take the boy into custody when he produced a knife. During the exchange, an officer's hand was sliced. The boy was shot by an officer and mortally injured. Medics took him by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The injured deputy was treated at a hospital for his injury and later released.

"It was more of a slice, not a stab, on the deputy's hand," Dicus said of the deputy's injury at a news conference.

"No one wins here," Dicus said.

Twice in recent weeks, the department has had to use deadly force in situations where juveniles were in a mental health crisis, Dicus said. "There isn't any winning for law enforcement in this situation. There have been histories of law enforcement getting involved, entering them into the mental health system, only to have them turned back to the same exact situation that they were in."

According to Dicus, in this situation, the mental health system failed. In this case, he believes, mental health services would not have been able to do anything but "back off and call for law enforcement assistance."

In mid-March, Apple Valley resident Ryan Gainer, 15, was shot late Saturday afternoon in the 13400 block of Iroquois Road after deputies responded to a 911 call about the boy who was assaulting his family and damaging the family home, according to the sheriff's department.

During that incident, a deputy's body cam footage shows the teen running toward the deputy while holding a tool or stick as a law enforcement officer yells, "Hey! Get back! Get back you're gonna get shot!" Deputies rendered medical aid to the wounded boy until paramedics arrived; he was transported by ambulance to a local hospital, where he later died from his injuries.

At that time, Dicus addressed the incident, saying:

"Our social safety net for those experiencing mental illness needs to be strengthened. Our deputies handle seemingly insurmountable calls daily. Most of these calls do not end in violence. However, this one ended in tragedy for Ryan, his family, and for the deputies who responded. Rapidly evolving, violent encounters are some of the most difficult, requiring split-second decisions. While these decisions are lawful, they are awful in terms of our humanity. I feel for both Ryan's family and my deputies who will struggle with this for their entire lives."

An attorney for the Gainer family said that during that incident, the teen was autistic and was having an episode, and the use of lethal force was not justified, especially since the sheriff's department allegedly knew of the child before the shooting occurred.

According to Dicus, deputies receive about 40 hours of mental health training, and the department is "in the process" of bringing more specialized mental health teams to the desert, such as the HOPE team. As of this report, no timeline was released for that agency. "I will continually fight for 24-hour resources for parents when they are assaulted by their children so that they have a place to take their kids when a crisis occurs.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department Specialized Investigations Division has assumed the investigation.

"This is a tragedy," Dicus said." It is with a heavy heart that our department continually visits these types of calls, but if I could please ask for your help in exposing issues we have with the mental health system. The largest mental health facility in our county is the West Valley Detention Center. As a public, we need to realize we could do better with these things."

Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Detective Ian Gosswiller, Specialized Investigations Division, at (909) 890-4904. Callers can remain anonymous and contact We-Tip at 800-78CRIME or www.wetip.com.

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