MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — One day after Ivan Clark was fatally shot by Miami Gardens police, his mother is putting a new perspective on what went wrong.
Clark’s mom, Melinda, says he wasn’t a violent person.
“He wasn’t crazy, he wasn’t violent, he wasn’t any of that,” she said. “That’s all I really want to say.”
Police said on Friday they were forced to shoot at the 33-year-old after responding to a reported crisis.
Melinda says her son was suffering from mental health issues for a few years.
“Maybe the last two years, he started having mental issues, like depression and stuff like that.”
Clark’s family says he was experiencing a mental health episode, and Melinda believed calling the police would help him.
“I was trying to get him Baker Act and things just got out of control. I was calling, I reached out to police for help and things just going out of control.”
At Friday’s news conference, Miami Gardens Police Department Chief Delma Noel-Pratt said at least one officer shot at Clark, who she said had multiple guns and confronted the responding officers.
She said the shooting was necessary to protect another person who was in the incident.
However, Iesha Clark, Ivan’s sister, says otherwise.
“When they came up, I was tussling with my brother because I was trying to take the gun away from him,” she said. “But I was not in danger. He was not trying to hurt me. It may have seemed like that from their perspective.”
Iesha Clark says police shot her brother in the backyard as she tried to disarm him.
“It wasn’t pointed at the officers,” she said. “It wasn’t aiming or shooting.”
Clark’s family says he was a certified firefighter and loved helping others. They believe this situation could have been avoided.
“I feel like when you call the police for a mental health issue, they need to send someone out that is trained in that,” Melinda said. “Someone that can kind of talk that person off the ledge.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting. The officers involved are on leave of absence.
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