TOLEDO, Ohio — Seven Toledo police officers shot, 47-year-old, Jason Means, 22 times on Wednesday. Along with the city of Toledo's Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, TPD Interim Chief Michael Troendle hosted a press conference Friday to reveal body camera footage and 911 call recordings to the public.
Troendle said there were at least two officers certified in Crisis Intervention Training, and all the officers involved went by the book in terms of attempting to de-escalate the situation. He claimed the officers were left with no choice when it came to firing their weapons.
Means' wife, Nichole Rahmel, told WTOL 11 she called police looking for help that night.
"I told them he has a mental disorder," Rahmel said. "He's non-responsive. He does not understand commands. Please do not shoot him. Do not kill him."
Troendle claimed Means' mental health had been a years-long problem.
"The telling statement in that 911 call is he's been dealing with this since he was a teenager. He's now 47 years old," Troendle said.
Troendle said officers only shot Means after he fired a shot and then later raised his weapon at officers.
"You're talking about multiple, multiple decades of time to address that issue," Troendle said. "As opposed to a five-minute interaction with the police, expecting them to solve an issue that's been going on for so long. It's just not possible."
Troendle said while watching the body camera footage he stopped counting how many times the officers commanded Means to drop his weapon, after 25 times.
He said that Toledoans who have firearms in their home and loved ones who struggle with mental health issues should call police to come and take the weapons away.