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Grandview officers who fatally shot teen in crisis Sunday had mental health training

The two Grandview officers who fatally shot a teenager that police said was suicidal on Sunday had undergone crisis intervention training, the department said Monday.

Lantz Stephenson Jr., 17, died at a hospital after two officers with the Grandview Police Department shot him during a confrontation at Meadowmere Park in the 13600 block of Byars Road, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, which is investigating the shooting.

Officers responded to a call around 6:45 a.m. Sunday where there was an apparently suicidal person with a gun, according to the highway patrol. Authorities later said it was Stephenson who placed the call.

Stephenson told dispatchers that he was armed with a gun and wanted to confront police officers, said Sgt Andy Bell, a spokesman with highway patrol.

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Three police officers showed up to the Grandview park and saw Stephenson from a distance.

The Grandview teen then “aggressively approached officers” with a gun, the highway patrol reported. Two of the officers fired their weapons and shot him.

Bell said that “some type of handgun” was found at the scene.

The teenager was taken to an area hospital, where he died, the highway patrol said Sunday night.

No officers were injured.

Both officers have since been placed on paid administrative leave, a standard procedure for officers who discharge weapons resulting in death or injury, Capt. Ryan Sharp, a spokesman for Grandview Police Department, said Monday.

The Grandview Police Department aims to have all officers trained in crisis intervention within two years of their hiring, Sharp said. The training, supported by the National Alliance of Mental Illness, includes on-site visits to mental health facilities and conversations with those suffering from mental illness.

The officers who responded to Stephenson’s call Sunday had each completed at least 40 hours of crisis intervention training, Sharp said, adding that the department practices de-escalation techniques during annual trainings.

Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, said officers going into a situation involving a person in crisis should take steps to de-escalate.

“You slow things down, you use time and distance and cover,” he said.

“The thing that they really want, more than anything, is someone to communicate with them, to talk to them, to use open ended questions: how are you, tell me about this.”

Sharp said that because the investigation is ongoing, he could not comment on whether de-escalation tactics were attempted.

Stuart Butler, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, said having some training in mental health was better than none, but that the majority of police training doesn’t deal with de-escalation.

“They are trained to act in a certain way, which is to use restraint and if necessary, force, to deal with the situation,” Butler said.

Encounters with police, especially ones that end violently, have prompted researchers such as Butler as well as several police departments across the country to examine the role of law enforcement.

A program in Eugene, Oregon, dispatches medics and crisis workers on mental health calls. In 2019, Butler said, the program responded to 24,000 calls, of which 150 needed police backup.

One of the positive outcomes of calls to “defund the police,” Butler said, is that it has encouraged communities to reassess the role of policing in their communities. Last year, protesters across the country, including in Kansas City, urged funds be diverted from police department budgets and into community services such as housing, mental health and education.

The Grandview Police Department has a body camera program, but police declined to say whether body camera or dash footage was part of the highway patrol’s investigation.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 800-273-8255.