Oh boy....I hate to see stories like this...

[jeffk]

Originally Posted by thinkxingu

Some of my thoughts after a few days:

I think the major failure here is that Mischa, who clearly had mental health issues, was not getting the treatment needed to avoid multiple police interventions.

...

From personal experience, mental health professionals are reluctant to aggressively treat young people. Teenagers are going through a normally turbulent emotional period and counselors are cautious about making a diagnosis and using strong medications. From news stories, it seems like there had been a escalation in his behavior in the past year. Given my experience, I would not be surprised if they "slow walked" a diagnosis and treatment. For many young patients that's probably the right approach. For an unpredictable few, it can be a disaster.

Beyond that, we don't know how actively the family was pursuing treatment. Such behavior can be a shock and it can take some time to come to grips with it.