'I will never find any peace': Mother of police shooting victim demands more mental-health training

In her dimly-lit front room, Shelley Croston is unable to fight back tears as she holds a childhood photograph of her son Mitchell, who was killed by a Calgary police officer last week.

In the early morning on Feb. 14, police were called to a commercial building in the 3000 block of 2nd Avenue N.E. after reports of a break-and-enter, after which Mitchell Croston was shot and killed by a police officer.

Police say Croston attacked an officer with a weapon, but are not saying what type of weapon.

"I truly believe Mitchell was looking for shelter and warmth in that vacant building. There was absolutely no need for this policeman to shoot with intention to kill my son." said Shelley Croston.

"I cannot fathom in my mind why this officer decided to kill my son. He needs to be accountable for this senseless death."

Croston says her 34-year-old son had been diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was in his late teens, and had been homeless and living on the streets since November of 2022. He recently developed an addiction to fentanyl, which she says he was working to overcome.

"He so very badly wanted to get better. He'd been struggling recently and desperately trying to get help," she said.

"Mitchell had been desperately trying to get help at the Foothills hospital. He was given his medication for two days. They had to turn him away because the psych ward was full. Same thing happened at South Health Campus and the Peter Lougheed (Hospital).”

Croston says her 34-year-old son had been diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was in his late teens, and had been homeless and living on the streets since November of 2022. He recently developed an addiction to fentanyl, which she says he was working to overcome.

When contacted for comment on Friday, a Calgary police spokesperson referred CTV to comments made by police chief Mark Neufeld on Feb. 14, in which he said: "I think in cases like that, you've got to look back and say, 'Were there possibilities or opportunities to be able to intervene or get somebody connected services and supports and if there was, how did that go?' Because I think there is an opportunity to try to prevent these things from happening. And that's to everybody's benefit if we can do that."

Neufeld went on to say that police are too often confronted with people who have been unable to get adequate mental-health assistance.

"At the end of the day, sometimes police are put into an impossible situation where somebody in crisis is in a place where the likelihood of achieving a peaceful outcome is almost impossible."

Shelly Croston agrees that there were multiple failures in the mental-health system leading to that moment police confronted her son in Franklin Park on Valentine's Day. She does not buy the argument that police were in an "impossible situation."

"I think the Calgary police department should train their officers to deal with mental illness. They should be able to be well-trained in that area so they know they are not dealing with a dangerous person, and they should not be in fear for their lives. I don’t think they were."

"Mitch didn’t die. Mitch was killed. He was murdered by police," said Croston. "I will never find any peace."