"We have a mental health crisis" San Bernardino County Sheriff says after teenage boy is shot and killed by a deputy

San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus is speaking out after a deputy shot and killed a 17-year-old boy inside a home in Victorville on Tuesday.

The sheriff held a news conference Wednesday morning to address the deadly shooting and release body-worn camera footage of the incident. 

The boy, identified as Aaron James, had barricaded himself inside a bathroom, armed with a knife and was threatening to harm himself.

Sheriff Dicus detailed the situation, calling out the state of the mental health system.

"We have a mental health crisis on our hands, not in just this county, but in the entire state," Dicus said. 

The sheriff said his department was familiar with James who lived in foster care, saying deputies had previously responded to his home in Hesperia.

"The juvenile just was 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," Dicus said.

He said James escaped during the transfer from the hospital to the mental facility and went to a foster home in Victorville where his sisters are living. Deputies were called to the house by the girls' foster parents. 

"Our deputies arrived on scene, and the 17-year-old juvenile barricades himself in a bathroom, and we take about 30 minutes to de-escalate, come up with a plan, get a supervisor on scene and during that de-escalation process the juvenile makes statements that he is going to harm himself," Dicus said.

After hearing the threat, deputies made their way into the bathroom armed with pepper spray, where they found James holding a knife. 

The body-cam video shows the tense situation and deputies can be heard shouting "He's got a knife."

Dicus did not provide details regarding the exact moment the James was shot, but he did say one of the deputies was cut by the knife and was treated at a hospital. He said one of the deputies shot the teen.

Sheriff Dicus continued to address the state of the mental health care system, saying law enforcement is the only 24/7 mental health resource in many communities.

"My record as a Sheriff for the last several years, I have championed a better mental health system both in the corrections environment and in our public environment, have been challenged a number of times, where the only mental health resource that we have in our communities is law enforcement."

Dicus also addressed a few other recent cases that have drawn public attention. He roughly compared this case to a March 2024 incident where a 15-year-old with autism was fatally shot in Apple Valley by deputies. 

The family of Ryan Gainer called 911 as the teenager was said to be assaulting them and damaging property at the residence. Deputies were immediately met by Gainer with violence as he charged at them with a long, sharp garden tool.

Released body camera footage showed the moments that the teen rushed the deputy, before he was shot and killed.  

"The difference with this and the Ryan Gainer case is when they are immediately confronted with Ryan and the violence they were confronted with in that instance, and the difference with this case is we have a door between us, lock and barricaded and being able to take the time to try to de-escalate the situation, prepare a plan and get a supervisor on scene," Dicus said.

The sheriff also brought up the case of 15-year-old Savannah Graziano during Wednesday's news conference, where a shootout between her fugitive father and deputies in Hesperia nearly two years ago resulted in the death of the teenager.

The department on Tuesday released video on the Graziano situation, and Dicus said he can't comment because it's a Department of Justice investigation.

A Hesperia use-of-force case under investigation was also mentioned by Dicus. He said investigators are looking at cell phone video showing deputies kicking and punching a robbery suspect in the head, as well as body-cam video.

"I can reassure you we will take the correct and appropriate processes, whether its submitting something to the DA criminally, doing an administrative investigation that can equal anywhere from significant discipline all the way up to termination," Dicus said.