Authorities release bodycam video of deadly shooting involving deputies, 17-year-old in Victorville

VICTORVILLE, Calif. (KABC) -- The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department is speaking out after a deadly shooting Tuesday in Victorville involving deputies and a 17-year-old.

The agency released bodycam footage of the fatal confrontation and an investigation is underway.

"We have a mental health crisis on our hands. Not just in this county but in the entire state," said San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus at a Wednesday press conference.

The incident unfolded Tuesday afternoon in the 17100 block of Forest Hills Drive. A 17-year-old boy showed up at his sister's foster home and threatened to kill himself, according to authorities.

"We responded to this juvenile many times at his home in Hesperia. The situation that we were confronted with yesterday is the juvenile was just taken three days ago for harming himself, essentially cutting his wrists, to a hospital for treatment and ultimately to be sent to a mental health facility," said Dicus.

But the teen escaped and showed up at the Victorville home. The homeowner called 911 and when deputies showed up they sized up the situation, taking about 30 minutes to talk with the 17-year-old through the bathroom door where he was barricaded.

The sheriff said that when deputies believed the teen was about to kill himself they busted in. The teen, armed with a knife, sliced the hand of one of the deputies and that's when another deputy opened fire, killing him.

Sheriff Dicus said that more needs to be done to address mental health issues in the county that have forced deputies to respond to these types of calls.

"If I could please, one more time, ask for your help in exposing the issues that we have with the mental health system, and there's no reason that law enforcement officers on the street side or sherrifs on the correctional side have to be dealing with the things in which we are dealing with. The largest mental health hospital in San Bernardino County is the West Valley Detention Center, and I think as a public we need to realize we could do better with these things," Dicus said.

The sheriff said that one of the deputies deployed pepper spray during the incident but it was ineffective.

When asked about whether it might have been better to have sent a mental health professional instead, the sheriff said that while that could have its advantages, to remember that the teen was armed and that posed a safety risk to any medical personnel sent into that situation.