Mental illness in America: NYPD officers shot and kill man in midtown Manhattan

NYPD officers shot and killed a man with a knife in midtown Manhattan last week Wednesday morning. The man that was killed was identified by police as 46-year-old Garry Conrad Jr. According to police, Conrad had become very aggressive and belligerent while trying to buy a beer at Food Emporium on West 49^th street and Eighth avenue around 8:30 a.m.

Police were alerted of Conrad’s behavior, and when officers arrived on the scene, violence began to spill out on the very busy Manhattan streets. The perpetrator and an officer got into a scuffle, and while both were on the ground, the four-inch knife that belonged to Conrad fell out of his pocket. Conrad would go on to injure the officer. Then after, everything came to a halt as police demanded him to drop the knife. 

After continuous demands by police, it went on deaf ears. Officers then began to let off rounds of bullets; nine shots to be exact, which then killed the suspect on the scene. Remind you, this is going on in rush hour in Manhattan, where there are a ton of tourist in the area and locals trying to get to work. So I can just imagine how scared, surprised and terrified onlookers were.

This story goes way beyond a man being shot and killed for his attack on a police officer with a knife. It was reported that Garry Conrad Jr. was a mentally ill individual. So this comes as no surprise that a man of his capacity would wield a knife at officers. We as Americans are seeing it more often than not that mental illness has become very prevalent in the 21^st century.

The growth of people that have a mental illness, the numbers are just staggering. This topic isn’t talked about much in the media, as people try to cover it up and think that this problem doesn’t exist in our country. My concerns are the individuals that have a mental illness across the nation and not properly treated; crime, violence and the intent to harm would definitely rise.

The question remains, and many are wondering where is the money going to? Tax payers are in a cloud when it comes to the resources that are supposed to help people with mental illness. If you work or live in New York City, the streets are filled with mentally ill people, and it’s a bit frightening at times just to be in their presence because you don’t know what their next move might be. 

I do hope within the next few years that changes be made by congress to provide more financial assistance in helping people that are living with mental illness. If that happens to be medication, providing housing and food, that’s always a great start to change. What’s currently in place isn’t working, and we want to have rapid change. It’s in the best interest of the safety of the American people.