Dear George:

I writing about the recent fatal shooting by the Albemarle Police of a mentally unstable person, Mr. Wingfield, a few weeks ago. I find this very, very, troubling. Especially, considering that this seems to be a recurring pattern in Albemarle County, were unarmed people, going through a psychotic incident, are routinely shot and killed. Just a few years ago, Mr. Gray was shot under very similar circumstances. Neither one of them had a firearm or a knife.

I wonder, if they had had a firearm, would they still be alive today? I think yes. I know that it is routine procedure to create a perimeter around a person who is suspected to be armed, that the State Troopers are called in, that special equipment is provided, that communication links are established and mediators made available to talk these people into giving themselves up peacefully. This takes some time, it even can take days, but in most cases turns out very successfully and without any fatalities on either side.

For some strange twist of logic, the Albemarle County Police don't think that such a procedure needs to be used with upset, but unarmed people. Go shoot, and shoot to kill is the procedure, as the Chief of Police takes pains to explain after each of such incidents. Something seems wrong to me. These people have lost their lives simply because they were mentally ill and unarmed. In Mr. Wingfield's case it was his immediate family who called for 911 for help. They did not think that having him shot --and sadly I must say, like a rabid dog-- was what they called for. They expected help in dealing humanely with the situation.

Within a couple of weeks, we heard about another person --also mentally sick-- being armed and shooting at the White House, in Washington D.C., but, in this case only being disabled by Secret Service agents with a shot to the knee. All this despite the fact that they were caught by surprise and that national security would also have been an issue here. Quite a different approach than what our chief thinks is appropriate. Obviously, it is time to re-train our police department and its chief.

Finally, I must say that both both incidents were frightening to me, since none of our families are immune to mental illness. But, what scared me the most is how nonchalant our community leaders and politicians have been in this matter so far. You would think that in a community as educated, sophisticated and progressive as we like to think we are, this matter would have had all the necessary consideration to avoid a repetition of such an incident the first time. But even now after a second time, our political leaders in Albemarle County are strangely quiet. Or are we waiting for this to happen again to somebody with a higher income level than the unfortunate people that have been killed so far? In the meantime if a member of your family is acting mentally unstable, please don't call the Albemarle County police.

My heart goes out to the Gray and the Wingfield families. I grieve with them.

Henry Weinschenk (electronic mail, February 19, 2001)