Opinion: Breaking the cycle of mental health crisis and police violence
Updated 6:00 AM;
Today 6:00 AM
Portland police were dispatched to a call about a man in Lents Park with a gun. Officers responded and confronted the man. One officer fired, killing the man near the fence by the park’s ball field off SE 92nd Avenue. Mark Graves/The Oregonian
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Patrick Nolen and Javonnie Shearn
Nolen previously served on the Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing and was homeless off and on for two decades due to untreated health issues. He lives in Portland. Shearn chairs the Oregon State Hospital advisory committee and is the mother of two adult Black men with severe mental illness. She lives in Clackamas.