Authorities in San Bernardino County say a 15-year-old boy, who reportedly had autism, should have received needed mental healthcare in the days and weeks before deputies shot and killed him.
The incident unfolded March 9 shortly before 5 p.m. when deputies with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department responded to a 911 call about a domestic disturbance in the 13400 block of Iroquois Road in Apple Valley, according to a department news release.
The tense moments, which lasted only about seven seconds, were caught on a deputy’s body-worn camera.
The footage shows the boy, Ryan Gainer, charging a deputy with the bladed end of a 5-foot-long garden tool moments before the deputy fatally shot him.
In published reports, the family’s attorney said the teen was autistic and experiencing a mental health episode at the time he was killed and that authorities were aware of that fact.
“The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department is not telling the whole truth,” said the family’s attorney. “These officers should be investigated and probably prosecuted for the murder of Ryan Gainer.”
On Wednesday, Sheriff Shannon Dicus held a press conference about the deadly encounter.
“There were plenty of times to offramp Ryan and get him the healthcare and mental healthcare that he needed,” Dicus said. “In my opinion, based on the frequency of times in which law enforcement had to be involved for Ryan’s family’s sake and Ryan’s sake prior to the shooting, I think that’s the important piece that we need to talk about here.”
Previously, Dicus said that the social safety net for those experiencing mental illness needs to be strengthened and that he sympathized with the teen’s family, as well as “…my deputies who will struggle with for their entire lives.”
While some have criticized the deputy’s response, saying less-lethal rounds could have been used, others believe that in a split second, gunfire was justified.
“Seeing that video, I don’t know how much of a choice he had not to do what he did,” Gabler said of the deputy’s actions. “A very, very dangerous job and he had to go home to his family as well.”
Johnson, though, says he wonders if the whole situation could have been handled differently.
“Even though the law covers that for them, what he did, was there an alternative way of dealing with it? I mean, a stun gun?” he said.
According to authorities, law enforcement had responded to the home five other times for issues involving the teen.
The fatal shooting remains an ongoing investigation.