Police Shoot Mentally Ill Teen After Allegedly Stating ‘We Don’t Have Time For This’

On Sunday, January, 5, 2014, Keith Vidal, 18, of Boiling Spring Lakes, N.C. was shot dead in his home by police. A known history of depression and schizophrenia had troubled the young man in the past but never to the point of violence according to neighbors. The incident began while Vidal was sweeping the floor between the laundry room and the kitchen. He was carrying a screwdriver, but, the family said, never threatened anybody with it.

“He just wanted his screwdriver. It’s his screwdriver, he’s gonna keep it,”  said Vidal’s mother, Mary Wilsey.

ThinkProgress.com reports,

“During Sunday’s incident, Vidal had apparently picked up a small screwdriver — small enough that it couldn’t have caused serious harm, his family says, but enough that they sought law enforcement assistance”.

12:31 p.m. Police are called.

Mark Wilsey calls police for assistance. The first of three different police departments respond to a 911 call for assistance.

“We wanted him to put the screwdriver down because he does have schizophrenia and we didn’t know if he was gonna hurt himself,” said Mary Wilsey.

12:34 p.m. Police respond.

Boiling Spring Lakes, N.C. Police officer, John Thomas was the first to arrive on scene. He had dealt with Keith Vidal before.

“The cops come and talk to him,” said Chelsea Wilsey, Vidal’s step-sister. “…. That’s all you have to do is talk to Keith, that’s the type of person he is, and calm him down and usually that will solve the problem.”

Officer Thomas did report a confrontation in the hallway to Brunswick County Dispatch but also told dispatchers several times that everything was o.k. Both Mark and Mary Wilsey praised the way Officer Thomas spoke with their son.

“He was in no hurry,” Mark Wilsey said. “Come on, bud, let’s talk,” Thomas said, according to Mary Wilsey. “I don’t want to talk now, leave me alone,” Vidal said. “Let’s talk, I’m not leaving until we talk,” Thomas said.

12:45 p.m. Police back up arrive.

A Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office deputy arrived on the scene. Accompanied by two other BSL police officers as back up.

“She [the deputy] was great with him,” Mark Wilsey said. “She talked to him. Everything was fine. There was no escalation, nobody threatened everybody, Keith didn’t show a screwdriver, threaten anybody with a screwdriver.”

According to a statement by Anthony Owens, a friend of the family, Vidal was “becoming more rational” at this point.

 12:48 p.m. More police arrive

Southport Police officer Bryon Vassey arrived on scene.  According to the family, when the Southport police arrived things escalated.

Owens’ statement says that, “An officer from another town entered the residence and instructed the officers to stop talking and tase Vidal. As Vidal tried to flee into the bathroom adjacent to where he was standing, the two officers simultaneously shot him with their tasers”.

 12:49:51 p.m. Shots fired by police.

Unit 104 of the Southport police radioed out that he had to fire shots at the subject in order to defend himself. Brunswick County EMS on stand by responded to the scene. Keith Vidal was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

WECT reports, “Wilsey said officers had his son down on the ground after the teen was tased a few times and an officer said, ‘we don’t have time for this.’ That’s when Wilsey says the officer shot in between the officers holding the teen down, killing his son. The officers who had deployed their tasers then tried to restrain Vidal. It was into that pile that the Southport officer shot, fatally wounding Vidal, Mark Wilsey said. ‘There were two cops on top of (Vidal). Two cops and me with a 90-pound kid,’ Wilsey said. ‘And then he shot from behind me, (he) could have hit the officer.’ After the shot was fired, Wilsey added, the Boiling Spring Lakes officer stood and checked his own torso to see if he had been shot. ‘There was no reason to shoot this kid,’ Wilsey said. ‘They killed my son in cold blood. We called for help and they killed my son.’”

NBC News reports the story a different way.

“Mark Wilsey, the young man’s stepfather, told reporters that the family called police to help subdue Vidal because he was holding a small screwdriver and threatening to fight his mother during a schizophrenic episode. But the situation appeared to be under control, with two officers restraining the 90-pound Vidal, when the third officer arrived and shot Vidal point-blank, Wilsey contended. ‘Then all of a sudden, this Southport cop came, walked in the house [and said]: ‘I don’t have time for this. Tase him. Let’s get him out of here,’ Wilsey said. An officer used a stun gun on Vidal, ‘he hit the ground [and] this guy shot him,’ Wilsey said. Wilsey said that when he demanded to know why his stepson had been shot, the officer replied, ‘Well, I’m protecting my officers.’ ‘He reached right up, shot this kid point-blank, with all intent to kill,’ Wilsey said. ‘He just murdered him flat out.’”

Police under investigation.

Neither police officer Thomas nor the Brunswick County Sheriff’s deputy have been placed on leave for their roles in the shooting of Keith Vidal. But Southport police have refused to name a detective that has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation’s findings. That detective is believed to be Bryon Vassey.