- There were highs, lows and lots in between in the South Bend area over the course of the year. Here is a rundown of some of the biggest stories of 2022.
South Bend police took a call the morning of July 29 about a man possibly armed and possibly suicidal in a field outside Coquillard Elementary School. The confrontation may have lasted less than an hour, but the community is still wrestling nearly six months later with 51-year-old city resident Dante Kittrell being fatally shot by police officers.
Kittrell, who was Black, was suffering from an apparent mental health episode when he was shot to death. Body-camera footage of the incident, which the city released, showed him waiving what looked like a handgun (though it was later determined to have been an Airsoft pistol) as he spoke to and shouted at police.
'Somebody is dying': Advocates protest commissioners pausing mental health crisis center
The shooting was ultimately ruled legally justified by the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s office. But it sparked cries from residents about how police should respond to mental health incidents and other related issues such as interactions between people of color and law enforcement. That debate will reverberate into the new year, with funding for a mental health crisis center is still unresolved and drew about 70 protesters to a county commissioners meeting Dec. 20.