The man was among several people being held in hospital despite threatening to harm himself or others because there were no beds at the local mental health center, said Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers. “It is a terrible tragedy, not only in our prefecture, but also in our country. “We are facing a mental health crisis,” said Flowers. The man’s family took him to the emergency department of the Cleveland Clinic Indian River on Vero Beach on Friday after he tried to hang himself, Flowers told reporters on Sunday. “He takes a pair of scissors, big scissors, and runs to the hospital,” the sheriff said. The deputies started chasing him and he raised the scissors above his head. “At that point our MPs are starting to back down,” Flowers said. “Again, a small narrow aisle, troughs, all sorts of things in there. “They draw their weapons and two of the deputies shoot, shooting and killing this man.” The man was being held under the Florida Mental Health Act, commonly known as the Baker Act, which allows authorities to detain someone in a mental health unit for up to 72 hours if they pose a threat to themselves or others. He and other patients who were also rushed to hospital with mental health inmates could not be cared for in a mental health unit on Saturday because it was full, Flowers said. “The fact that we were up there taking people for suicide cases for Baker Acts, that they had a lot of Baker’s patients waiting to be taken to a facility because there were not enough beds and the fact that this gentleman was waiting there for a day and “Half shows what kind of mental health crisis we are in at the moment,” said the sheriff. The deputies have been put on administrative leave as the shooting is being re-examined.
