Police shoot dead suicidal man
28-year-old Justin Way had recently lost his job.
Drunk and threatening to kill himself with a large knife, his anxious girlfriend Kaitlyn Lyons called the police to an attempt to stop him harming himself.
Kaitlyn’s 911 police recording hears her ask ‘he has threatened to kill himself twice now; what do I do and who do I call?’.
As police arrive Kaitlyn is asked to leave the house and she explained she assumed her partner would be “Baker Acted” — involuntarily committed for his own protection, she told The Daily Beast.
"My brother has been Baker Acted three times because he was threatening to hurt himself so I figured that would happen with Justin," she said.
When police arrived in the house in Florida, armed with assault rifles Kaitlyn says: "I thought they were going into war".
Justin’s father, George Way, said his son was a recovering alcoholic who had been on the wagon, alcohol-free, for five weeks.
"He just lost his job, and he had a setback," he told The Daily Beast.
George said that the initial report he received from Detective Mike Smith about the incident in which his son lost his life cites that officers were attacked by Justin with the knife.
Detective Smith also told Mr Way that Justin had threatened Kaitlyn, which Kaitlyn denies.
Denise Way, Justin’s mother claims she was told by police "they told Justin to drop the knife and he didn’t," so they shot him because, "that’s what we do".
According to Mrs Way Detective Smith then told her about "this new trend in law enforcement now - it’s called suicide by cop". She said that she was told this was when suicidal people provoked the police in an effort to end their own lives.
Justin’s parents maintain their son was not a threat to the police because they think their son was shot while he was still laying in bed. George has said he thinks a bullet was taken from his son’s mattress as he found a hole in it and said the blood was contained entirely within the mattress, and was not found on the walls or the floor.
The Sheriff’s Office says Justin was armed with a machete-like serrated knife when Deputies Kyle Braig and Jonas Carballosa entered and shot him in the chest and abdomen during the confrontation.
"The only person Justin threatened was himself and I honestly don’t think he wanted to die," Kaitlyn said.
Commander Chuck Mulligan of the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office told the Daily Beast it was standard procedure to bring assault rifles "if the deputies feel that that is the appropriate weapon system to use".
"They were in a very tight space within a residence," he said.
The Daily Beast also reports that one of the two officers that went into Justin Way’s home, Kyle Braig, was involved in an incident which resulted in a fatal shooting with a knife-wielding man five months ago.
Justin Way’s parents have reportedly said they do not ever want to call the police again for anything while Kaitlyn said she hopes the police rethink the use of guns in suicidal cases.
"I think they should come in using other things,” she said. "I think they definitely need to figure out how to handle suicidal people."
