MIAMI – Community leaders and neighborhood residents held a press conference Thursday morning, a week after a police-involved shooting in Miami that seriously injured a man who suffers from mental illness.
The group is calling for support for a non-police, community-based crisis response program following the shooting of 47-year-old Donald Armstrong.
“We’re standing here today to say, ‘Listen, no matter what you’re funding, fund this. Get behind us. Stand with us. End violence on all spectrums,” Olivia Walker said.
Armstrong was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital in serious condition following the March 7 shooting.
Organizers of Thursday’s press conference said he had been shot seven times as his mother pleaded for officers not to kill her son.
They said Armstrong is currently listed in critical condition, while his mother has been hospitalized for stress.
Officer Kiara Delva, a Miami Police Department spokesperson, confirmed that police responded to a home near the 5700 block of Northwest Seventh Court that day after receiving a call about a person who was possibly high on narcotics causing a disturbance.
Upon arrival, Delva said officers encountered Armstrong, described as an “aggressive subject,” who was armed with a sharp object, and refused to comply with officers’ commands.
Online records show Armstrong has served time in state prison on charges including burglary, aggravated assault with a weapon and battery on a pregnant victim.
Just before 3 p.m. that day, cellphone video captured the moments when officers were met by three people on a front porch. One man wearing red pants and a white shirt was seen carrying a long object in one hand when he was tased multiple times.
The video shows Armstrong yelling “Shoot me in the heart” and “I am God!” before being hit a second time by a taser after charging at officers. Police said he refused to follow their commands and they were forced to shoot.
But neighbors and the man’s family are questioning the officer’s decision to open fire.
“I don’t think the police’s life was in no danger at any time,” Armstrong’s cousin, Lonnie Armstrong, said. “I said, ‘My cousin has a mental problem. You know, you all need to check with somebody.’ I said this loud and clear. And they was like ‘Get out the way.”
In a message posted to social media Friday, Miami police Chief Manny Morales said, in part, “I pledge to ensure that our department does better in addressing calls involving mental and behavioral issues. I am asking all of us to pray for Mr. Armstrong and his family during this difficult time.”
One woman with the crisis response program said they are an “alternative to calling the police when your loved ones are in pain.”
“We are the alternative because we are trained with mental health professionals and we come with love,” she said.
“This is purpose for us,” Walker said. “We desire to solve our own community problems because, unfortunately, everybody is not trained well to do so, because they can’t relate to our communities.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the police shooting as part of standard protocol.
Watch the press conference here: