On December 30, 2020, my son Christian was depressed. He had just broken up with his first girlfriend and was devastated. She was his first love, and she left him to go back to her former boyfriend, who told her that if they did not get back together he would kill himself. I remember getting annoyed with her for saying that to him, because I knew my son. He would feel the need to one up this guy. I knew he wasn’t suicidal, but he would definitely feel the need to outdo that guy in order to keep her.
That day, Christian was on an overpass over I-80. He was depressed, but unfortunately at that time there was no mental health crisis line, so his only option was to call 911 to report a suicidal man on the overpass. After talking to him for 90 minutes, during which time he never got agitated with them or spoke belligerently at them, they opened fire and killed my son. If there was a crisis line, Christian would have called it. He would have talked to someone who may have calmed him down. This is why my wife and I embarked on this journey.
