ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Just a few days after Antonio Scippio died at the hospital from gunshot wound injuries, family and friends gathered at his Orange County home to honor his life.
“They took a part of me that I can never replace. That was my only son. He never been in trouble, and he didn’t deserve to be killed,” said Gail Reed, mother of Antonio Scippio.
Saturday, there was a candlelight vigil, balloon release, and prayer as they all shared heartfelt memories that Antonio brought them.
Described as a “gentle giant,” Reed told Channel 9 her son struggled with mental health conditions, including schizophrenia.
“He was just a gentle giant reaching out for help. In return, he got killed in the process,” said Reed.
Reed said her son called 911, claiming he wanted to commit suicide and was going through a mental crisis. Investigators said when deputies got to the scene, they saw Scippio coming from a bedroom with a knife. Investigators said after several commands to drop it, he did not comply.
“It’s at that point our deputies discharged their service weapons and struck the man several times.,” said Mina.
According to Sheriff John Mina, deputies left the home while giving multiple commands for him to drop the knife before shooting.
Reed said when deputies got to the home, she warned them about his condition, but moments later, they shot him.
Days later, Scippio died days in the hospital.
Reed said she wants the department held accountable and better judgment from deputies when it comes to mental response calls.
“I want them held accountable. A protocol needs to be put in place and how to handle a mentally ill individual when a call is made. When they call 911, [The call] is supposed to be put over to a crisis line. My son should have been held on the line until someone could get him the proper help,” said Reed.
Mina was asked about the Sheriff’s department’s Behavioral Response Unit the night of the shooting and said that deputies are paired with a specialist, but not that night because they were not on duty.
Several days later, the department said BRU deputy/clinician teams do not respond directly to calls where the subjects are armed. All of the calls – even the ones where someone is in a mental health crisis are answered initially by first responding deputies to ensure the scene is safe and that the great majority of the calls, we get involving people in a mental health crisis do not involve weapons. Once first responding deputies determine there are no weapons and no danger to the clinicians, the deputy/clinician team can engage the person who is in a mental crisis.
The Behavioral Response Unit is a Co-Responder Model pilot program in which trained mental health clinicians from Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health are paired with Orange County deputies to respond to calls for service involving mental health crises.
The program started back in 2020. Each clinician is a mental health professional, and the deputies all are Crisis Intervention Trained (CIT) and have undergone 40 hours of Crisis Intervention Team training.
According to the site for BRU, the teams will respond to calls for service related to mental illness, PTSD, and some substance abuse issues. The deputies will make sure the clinician and the area is safe.
The BRU teams will spend their shifts monitoring the radio and responding to appropriate calls for service. They can also be summoned to a scene if a responding patrol deputy requests them.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is taking over the investigation, per protocol when a law enforcement agent fires their weapon.
According to the department, the deputies that fired the weapons are on paid administrative leave pending the investigation.
The department said it will conduct a internal investigation after the initial investigation from FDLE.
Per the department, body-worn footage will be available 30 days after the shooting.
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