Amarillo Police Involved in Shooting of Suicidal Man Armed with a Gun
Amarillo Police responded to a call involving person making threats to kill themselves.
The original call came in on Tuesday, February 15th, around 12:18pm to the Amarillo Emergency Communications Center, a 3rd party had called in about the suicidal man. At the time the location of the man was not known.
The Amarillo Police Department Crisis Intervention Team were sent to investigate. These officers are specially trained to handle individuals who are suffering a mental health crisis. Each Crisis Intervention Team member is teamed with a mental health counselor from Texas Panhandle Centers
Amarillo Police Officers were able to locate the man inside of a business at 3808 SW 6th. When arriving they were able to see that the man was armed with a gun. A officer fired shots at the man in order to protect themselves and those bystanders in the building.
The man was transported to a local hospital with life threatening injuries. Another person was transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The Amarillo Police Department Homicide Unit are continuing the investigations. This department investigates all officer involved shootings.
Mental health is a serious issue. So many people live with the stigma that mental health is something to be ashamed about. However, mental health is health. If you were having chest pains, you would head to the doctor. Mental health should be treated the same way. We need to remove the stigma from our society that getting help for mental health is a bad or embarrassing thing, it isn't.
This man obviously needed this help, and unfortunately, it turned into a emergency crisis, where our police officers and community members were put into danger.