One in five fatal police shooting victims may have been experiencing a mental health crisis (MHC) at the time of their death [1]. We use data on fatal police shootings from the National Violent Death Reporting System (2014–2015) to (a) identify incidents where the victim is reported to have experienced an MHC at the time of their death, (b) describe the characteristics of these incidents, and (c) compare the characteristics of MHC to fatal police shootings where the victim was not experiencing an MHC at the time of their death. We systematically coded 633 fatal police shootings from 27 states. Descriptive statistics characterized fatal police shootings, including victim characteristics; their mental health status; and contextual information regarding the police encounter (e.g., reason for police call). Overall, 203 of 633 fatal police encounters (32%) involved victims who showed signs of an MHC at the time of their death. Victims were predominantly white, male, and in possession of a firearm. In 3 of 4 cases, the MHC manifested as suicidal ideation despite any relevant documented history among most victims. Among half of suicidal victims, suicidal ideation was expressed verbally and in-person to a family member/intimate partner who subsequently called the police. Dispatch was aware of the MHC in 1 of 4 of total police calls. Overall, fatal police encounters involving those experiencing an MHC accounted for 1 in 3 of our caseloads. Approximately, 3 of 4 mental health calls involved a suicidal person who mainly expressed intent to a loved one in-person.

五分之一的警察枪击受害者在死亡时可能正在经历心理健康危机 (MHC) [1]。我们使用国家暴力死亡报告系统（2014-2015）中有关警察枪击致死事件的数据来（a）确定据报道受害者在死亡时经历过 MHC 的事件，（b）描述这些事件的特征(c) 将 MHC 的特征与致命的警察枪击事件进行比较，其中受害者在死亡时没有经历 MHC。我们对 27 个州的 633 起警察枪击事件进行了系统编码。描述性统计数据描述了警察枪击事件的特征，包括受害者特征；他们的心理健康状况；有关警察遭遇的背景信息（例如报警原因）。总体而言，在 633 起警察致命事件中，有 203 起（32%）涉及在死亡时表现出 MHC 迹象的受害者。受害者主要是持有枪支的白人男性。在 4 例病例中，有 3 例的 MHC 表现为自杀意念，尽管大多数受害者有相关病史记录。在一半的自杀受害者中，他们向家庭成员/亲密伴侣口头或当面表达了自杀意念，随后他们报了警。在 4 起报警电话中，有 1 起是 Dispatch 得知 MHC 的。总体而言，涉及 MHC 患者的致命警察遭遇占我们案件量的三分之一。大约四分之三的心理健康电话涉及有自杀倾向的人，他主要是当面向亲人表达意图。