NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. – DISCLAIMER: This story and the video contain graphic content. Discretion is advised.
Some agencies in Northeast Florida have mental health experts who go out with law enforcement to help de-escalate situations.
That did not happen in Nassau County, where, according to the sheriff, a deputy shot and killed a woman who was “holding a BB-style rifle” last month. But according to mental health experts, this situation was too dangerous to have a co-responder come out with deputies.
The Nassau County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday released body camera footage from the deadly shooting.
Deputies said they responded around 2:15 a.m. to a domestic disturbance at the Barbara Lane home of 47-year-old Donna Dale, who they said was threatening to harm herself.
When deputies arrived, they said, Dale was out of the house and in heavy brush on the property. The deputies could hear her but couldn’t see her, they said.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, Dale pointed a rifle at herself and then pointed it at deputies. That’s when, the Sheriff’s Office said, Deputy Christian Cofer fired a single shot, killing Dale.
Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper previously said investigators determined after the shooting that the rifle she was holding was a “BB-style rifle”
After seeing the footage, Dale’s family asked for two things: privacy and prayers for Dale’s children.
News4JAX spoke with Dale’s family when the shooting happened in January.
“It was just like I said, her mental health, and I think just a lot building up to it,’ said Amber Stoner, Dale’s niece.
The family said Dale was Baker Acted before, and the Sheriff’s Office said she was Baker Acted a month before the January shooting.
“I’ve lost my children. I’ve got nothing to live for,” Dale can be heard saying in the bodycam footage.
A deputy responds, “What happened tonight, Donna? Talk to us.”
Deputies asked Dale repeatedly to come out of the bushes.
“You will not have a choice. Your training will (expletive) take over,” Dale says.
Dr. Christine Cauffield is the CEO of LSF Health Systems, a group that provides mental health services. Cauffield said this was traumatic for Dale, her family and the deputies involved.
“It’s so very heartbreaking that individuals get to the point in their lives where they feel there is no hope,” Cauffield told News4JAX on Friday.
Just hours before the shooting, according to Dale’s family, she was in a crash. The family said it wished the deputy would have Baker Acted her then.
News4JAX is waiting on the Sheriff’s Office to release video from that incident.
Cauffield said, historically, the state has ranked very low on funding for behavioral health care. Most of the funding focused on programs like the Baker Act.
“Now that we’ve had a new influx of money this past fiscal year, we’re now more able to focus on prevention, funding, those preventative measures, those programs that help prevent outcomes such as these,” Cauffield said.
Cauffield reminds everyone that if you need help, you can call 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Also, she said to keep in mind the state has programs to serve individuals in many different situations — those who are indigent, uninsured or underinsured.