‘He felt his life amounted to nothing.’ Behind the fatal shooting of man by Fresno police

The brother of Coy Jackson, 33, killed March 18 by Fresno police, said the slain man lived with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The brother, Jason Jackson, questioned the necessity of officers using deadly force in the incident.

In a phone interview, Jason Jackson said Coy Jackson, shot by three officers after he reportedly approached them with a Bowie knife outside the Southwest Fresno police station, had a history of criminal offenses related to his illness, but was not a violent man.

“I know he showed up with a knife, but in his 33 years, he never injured anyone,” Jackson said.

While sympathetic to the difficulties faced by police officers, Jackson said he doubted shooting his brother was the only option.

“My mom and sister are very upset. I try to explain to them that officers don’t get up (in the morning) to shoot somebody.”

Jackson added that he is aware that Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama explained lethal force was the only option open to the officers in the March 18 confrontation.

“I don’t know how close he was to the officers, (but) I definitely think some non-lethal means could have been used,” Jackson said.

Brother relates shooting to his experienced in Army

Jason Jackson, now in a civilian capacity with the Department of the Defense, cited experiences he said he acquired as a military contractor in Afghanistan and with the U.S. Army in Iraq and Afghanistan. Recalling his service on military convoys targeted by suicide bombers, he said:

“If I had (reacted with deadly force) every time a car sped up to us, I would have fired my weapon so many times.”

In a news conference last week, Balderrama said Coy Jackson was too close to officers for a stun device such as a Taser to stop the threat from a knife charge. The chief pointed out that the training Fresno officers undergo to deescalate confrontations involving people with mental health issues exceeds state standards, and noted the officers involved are also experiencing the trauma of the violent incident.

“Those police officers wanted to go home (to their families),” Balderrama said. “And they have a right to go home.”

The chief promised that body-worn camera video of the incident would be released, which is standard department practice.

Balderrama said police officers are usually first responders for those facing a mental crisis by necessity, and not by choice. And he added that “perhaps (Coy Jackson) should have been in a long-term facility” for those suffering from mental illness.

Jason Jackson said his brother has lived with debilitating mental illness since 2015. “He was in and out of different halfway houses.”

But, he added, “If you do have (such) an issue, you’re kind of on your own.”

Jason Jackson said he grew up in Fresno but now lives in Washington, D.C.

“I joined the military. I didn’t want to grow up in the cesspool that Fresno can be.”

Halfway house near police station

When the Saturday night incident occurred, Coy Jackson was living in a halfway house about a 10-minute walk from the police station in the Kearney Palms shopping center. He had recently been released from a mental health facility.

Devin, who lived in the halfway house with Coy Jackson, said in an interview that he was surprised Jackson would confront police with the knife.

“That’s not like Coy,” he said. “He never seemed like he would do anything like that.

“(But) he was in a lot of pain...he was going through a lot. He was shaking.”

Devin said Coy Jackson mentioned being troubled by voices when he returned to the halfway house from the mental health facility.

“They should never have let him out of the hospital,” Devin said. “He wasn’t right.”

Devin said that shortly before the deadly confrontation, “I saw him walking in the middle of the street, downtown. He was crying out for help.”

Jason Jackson said his brother had been in and out of jail on minor offenses, “things like breaking windows.”

“He was seeking a structured environment. He would call me or text me two or three times a week. He believed someone was trying to kill him...trying to kill us, (his family). He was hearing voices. He felt his life amounted to nothing.

“He talked about taking pills (to end his life), or getting shot so the voices would stop. He thought people were after him, after his family. In one of his last messages, he thought that he had to sacrifice himself to save his family.”

Jason Jackson said their father committed suicide, and that likely had a devastating effect on his younger brother, then 7 years old, the youngest of four siblings.

“Losing a father so young....he definitely was not set up for success.”