I seem to recall the case of at least one black person with mental health issues whose neighbours called 911 to get help for, and soon enough he was shot dead.
About half the people that police shoot and kill each year have a mental illness. This amounts to about 500 people with mental illness shot and killed each year.
This compares to the 35,000 to 40,000 people who die by suicide in the US each year.
If someone needs help there are probably things you can do - be there with them; make sure you say they're calm when you talk about them on the phone; make sure there are no weapons around.
If you go through that data entry by entry, you find that in the majority of cases, the victim was brandishing a firearm, and has usually discharged it.
It's an incredibly useful data set; take a month or two and a pair of specific areas and tally the data up. I learned a bunch. For instance: tasers? Way the fuck more dangerous than I thought (and I didn't think they were benign before).
This compares to the 35,000 to 40,000 people who die by suicide in the US each year.
If someone needs help there are probably things you can do - be there with them; make sure you say they're calm when you talk about them on the phone; make sure there are no weapons around.