MEDFORD, Ore. — The mother of Matthew Thayer Graves, the man who was shot and killed in last week’s
officer-involved shooting, is speaking out.
She posted about her son’s death on Facebook on Sunday evening saying that her son had a mental illness.
The post is gathering a lot of attention; It’s been shared hundreds of times…and has motivated one Medford woman to organize a rally to bring awareness.
“I feel like maybe police were scared and not trained well enough to handle that…,” said Rhonda Capello, activist.
Capello says she couldn’t sleep last night after reading a Facebook post about Matthew Thayer Graves, the man shot and killed by police in the Eagle Point.
“I hear he had mental illness. I hear he was unarmed. And I hear that he was shot by police…,” she said.
The incident happened last Wednesday night at Carl’s Junior.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office says 33-year-old Graves was not complying with police.
“It’s a tough position to be in and it’s a tragic thing anytime human life is lost,” said Chief Darin May, Eagle Point Police Dept. “It’s a tragic thing for the families and the families of the officers; it’s tragic for everyone…”
Investigators say things got physical during the officer’s interactions with Graves. They say Eagle Point police first used a taser, and at some point, Graves was shot.
They are still trying to determine exactly what happened moments before the shooting. Police interviewed the two Eagle Point officers on Wednesday and are still waiting on Graves’s autopsy results.
In a public Facebook post, a woman identifying herself as Grave’s mother, writes that her son suffered from schizophrenia. An excerpt of the post reads: “He was not on drugs and did not have a weapon. He walked 2 miles to Carl’s Junior to buy a couple of hamburgers and bring them home to eat…He talked to himself frequently as he was a schizophrenic. A functioning one…”
The post was shared hundreds of times resonating with many like Capello who’s daughter suffers from mental illness.
“We’ve had times where we have had to call the police and it has not been good because they didn’t understand at all…
So it’s really scary for a parent being in that position to call the police…Because it’s a 50/50 chance it’s going to go either way.”
It’s the reason Capello says she created a Facebook event on Wednesday morning to rally outside the Eagle Point Police Department hoping to spread awareness about mental illness and how police officers can better handle situations like this.
“It’s not attack on police. It’s just to bring awareness,” she said. “That we as a community as a whole…we want better trained police officers. We want to be able to work with them…instead of being afraid to call them.”
Eagle Point police cannot comment any further on the circumstances surrounding the officer-involved shooting because the case is still active. However, all of their findings as well as the witness testimony will be heard by a grand jury in the coming weeks.
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