DALLAS — The suspect from Monday’s NorthPark Center scare remains under mental health evaluation, and he’s not facing any charges as he’s getting help. This, as the City of Dallas has been responding to a skyrocketing number of mental health calls, since the pandemic.
Monday’s scare at the NorthPark Center left hundreds of people shaken up, after shoppers thought there was an active shooter in the food court area.
“The whole mall with a massive wave of people, there were people falling down,” said Ryan Goodson, a shopper WFAA spoke to on Monday.
Police said, that scare, and pandemonium was caused by a 25-year-old with mental health issues, who started banging a skateboard, making it sound like gunfire.
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“As people are cooped up, the calls to 911 have increased,” said Dr. S. Marshal Isaacs, the medical director for the Dallas Right Care Program.
With those mental health calls, the Right Care team shows up, which is also known as the rapid integrated group healthcare team.
It’s a team of three, including one from Dallas police, fire, and a clinician.
“They could be having suicidal thoughts, depressed, or anxious, or much more serious,” said Isaacs.
Across Dallas, there are five Right Care teams who assess the patient.
“Do they need medication? Do we need to take them... which is putting them in the hospital? The mental health hospital, which is against their will,” said Lt. Brent Wind, with the Dallas Police Department.
“Talk to the person, find out what’s going on. A level of delusion that’s going on, we want to flush that out,” said Kurtis Young, the director of social work for behavioral health services at Parkland Hospital.
The end goal is to help, and not just throw the individual in jail.
“It’s finding the right care at the right time, at the right place,” said Jessica Martinez, from North Texas behavioral health authority.
Members of the Right Care team told WFAA, there are so many families that desperately need the help, and they don’t know where to go, and often times, don’t want to wait for a crisis to happen.
So, what should they do? The teams says to call 911 and ask for someone from the Right Care team to go to their house.