Buffalo, Conklin, Binghamton 5/16/22

 Pardon my absence; I've been distracted ...

I haven't been here on the blog lately but, Buffalo has moved me to words:

I live in Binghamton, NY. Approximately 230 Miles North and West of here is the City of Buffalo, where 10 people were shot and killed 3 more were injured at a Grocery Store.

Approximately 5 Miles East of here is Conklin, NY, where the 18-Year-Old Killer grew up and lived. 

Approximately 3 Blocks away from my home is the local Emergency Mental Health Service (EMHS), called the Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program, (CPEP) at Binghamton General Hospital.

In June of 2021, the Buffalo Killer was taken by NY State Police from Susquehanna Valley High School in Conklin to the CPEP in Binghamton at Binghamton General Hospital ER, after having written and spoken about potential Mass-Shooting at School.

Years ago I worked at Binghamton General ER as an EMT. While I worked there, the EMHS added the CPEP component to Psychiatric Emergency Services. As a concerned private citizen and EMT, I was interested in Community Mental Health Services, and I became a member of the CPEP Advisory Board during the EMHS/CPEP development, transition, and implementation.

An area of concern to me as an ER Tech and Emergency Ambulance Squad Crew Chief, and other concerned Community Members, was that EMHS tended to Discharge those who probably should have been Admitted to In-patient Treatment, and Admit those who could have been treated on an Out-patient basis.

30 Years later, a 17-Year-old with Murder in mind is evaluated and eventually Discharged back into the community. This is the kind of thing some of us on the CPEP Advisory Board worried about. An Individual who probably should have been Admitted to In-patient Hospitalization or at least more closely supervised Out-patient Services, leaves the hospital unfettered by further restriction.

11 Months later, armed with an illegally modified semi-automatic assault rifle, he drives his parent’s car over 200 Miles from Conklin, NY to Buffalo and shoots 11 Black Americans. 10 of those shot died as a result of wounds inflicted by the berserk gunman.

This individual was quite obviously deeply disturbed and needed to be more closely supervised.

Erie County NY District Attorney John Flynn was quite cautious, and I would say, diplomatic in his description of Broome County Emergency Mental Health/Binghamton General CPEP Services – ‘I won’t comment on what went on down there in Broome County, I wasn’t there, so I won’t speak to it… I won’t criticize Broome County about that.’ He did go on to say that the shooter ‘had hatred in his heart long before coming to Buffalo’.

Well, Thank You for your candor, but, I will Critique: He should have been Admitted to In-patient.

 To not do so is an obvious and disturbing failure of Emergency Mental Health Services in Broome County, NY. As a result of this disastrous failure, 10 people were killed and 3 more wounded while shopping at a grocery store on Saturday Afternoon.

I know how this goes – a Patient Admitted to CPEP for Evaluation eventually says: ‘Oh, I don’t know why I wrote that… I didn’t really mean it … I wouldn’t do that …’ And, Viola! Discharge. In these violent and troubled, disturbing times, we cannot simply let people off the hook for recanting on such violent and disturbing threats.

An individual threatening in such a manner should be screened and investigated more thoroughly, personally, and circumstantially to truly evaluate one’s real emotional state, and to determine if circumstances such as Gun Possession indicate further action.