MIAMI GARDENS, FL- Miami Gardens police are under fire after shooting and killing Lavall Hall, a 25-year-old schizophrenic man early Sunday morning. His mother called police for assistance in calming his aggressive mood, but after he ignored verbal orders, they proceeded to shoot him multiple times. He was holding a broom, which police say he used as a weapon. Catherine Daniels called the police around 5 A.M. on Sunday morning. She says“[I told the 911 operator], ‘My son has got a mental problem. Please send somebody here to help him.’”
Police say they were called to deal with a
“violent, mentally disturbed male subject.”
When they arrived, family members say Hall ignored police orders and took off running about a block from the house. Police and witnesses say police ran after him and twice attempted to use a stun gun to subdue him. That didn’t work. According to the police statement, Hall had “an object” that he used against them and
“as a result, the individual was shot and subsequently died on the scene.”
Catherine Hall and other witnesses said Hall was carrying an old broom. As his mother lamented,
“You tell them that the child is mentally challenged, and then all of a sudden you run out to him…You know he doesn’t have a gun. He had a broom, a red broom with straws. Old, red broom.”
Nevertheless, a neighbor said she heard:
“ ‘Get on the ground, get on the ground,’ and then shortly after I hear ‘boom,’ I mean, ‘pow, pow, pow.'”
After five shots, Hall was dead and police placed him in handcuffs as he lay motionless on the ground. Police then turned their guns on Hall’s step-mother, who ran to the scene when she heard the gun shots.
“He [drew] his gun and told us to get back or he’ll shoot us…my hands went up.”
Miami Gardens Police say that three officers were injured in the altercation and the one who killed Hall was taken to the hospital. Still, Walter Pinkies, Hall’s cousin, believes
“They could have dealt with that on another level…You didn’t have to shoot nobody to calm nobody down.”
Catherine Hall is distraught over the death of her son, saying
“If I [knew] they [were] going to kill my child, I would have never, ever called them.”
She continued,
“He [has] a mental problem and when I went around the corner to help my child all [the police] had to do was take my child because he got a mental problem…they killed my child, took my child away from me.”
Another grieving relative said,
“[His mother] didn’t call the police to say, ‘Kill my son.’ She called the police to say, ‘My son has a mental issue. Come help him.'”
There is growing concern that police are inadequately trained to deal with mentally ill individuals. This has led to an unfortunate and increasing number of deaths (though this doesn’t explain the plethora of police murders of mentally stable people). The question is not whether or not violence is acceptable, even from the mentally ill, but whether or not cops are justified in using lethal violence against those they know are disturbed. Hall leaves behind an 8-year-old daughter (another report says she is 9) while the officer who shot him is on paid leave. As Pinkins said,
“When they left [here] they went home to their family…They [are] probably home eating, drinking, having a good time. But we [are] back here grieving. That’s not fair.”
