Police have said the 911 caller was asked whether mental health services were needed and had requested a police response. As the community mourns the teenager, his death has also fueled calls for better access to mental health resources for young people. Since the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, some cities nationwide have heeded calls to reallocate money away from law enforcement and into mental health and social services. Others have shifted the responsibility of responding to non-violent mental health crisis calls to trained civilian programs rather than police, such as Los Angeles and Baltimore. “And our community deserves to know that every possible effort was made to respond with compassion, care, and de-escalation during a mental health crisis.”