SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A successful Scottsdale home builder was shot and killed by police on the roof of his own home in November after suffering a mental crisis.
What happened in a matter of moments, his family said had its roots in events years earlier.
On Nov. 11, Scottsdale police opened fire on Christopher Mellon after they say he waved a gun at them.
Police were responding to 911 calls reporting that Mellon was burning his wife's clothes and beating his adult daughter.
However, the family said their father was slowly driven insane after a family tragedy happened in 2016.
“I don’t think anyone could have cared about his kids more,” Dr. Christopher Mellon, the eldest son, said. “We saw a marked change with him after 2016.”
In 2016, the Mellon Sr. sent his 15-year-old daughter with high functioning autism to a church camp. Mellon entrusted his daughter to a family friend, someone, court paperwork said, was the Godfather to one of the other Mellon children.
However, it is there, that a criminal investigation later found she was abused by the friend, who was allegedly supposed to be watching her.
“He entrusted his daughter in someone he thought was his friend,” Mellon said “I saw him unravel.”
Dr. Mellon said his father suffered from having to go to court, and hear what happened to his daughter again and again.
There were times when Dr. Mellon thought his father was getting better, but it was a struggle.
"Mental health is hard. It’s not like a definitive thing you get to see like a cancer," Mellon said.
On Nov. 11, Mellon remembers called his father, hoping to calm him down.
"That conversation was with a disease, it wasn’t with my dad,” Mellon said.
The disease took his father's life, but the ripple effects would not end there.
On the day of his father's funeral, one of Mellon's sisters died by suicide.
"How many more bodies, how much more flesh does the world want," Mellon said.
Mellon wants change. He wants to see improvements on how police deal with mental health cases.
He wants to see changes on the support given to the families of those who survived abuse, to help deal with the mental fallout.
Hoping to save lives, after so much has been taken from his family.
The 911 call told police that Christopher Mellon was “going crazy” so what is the role of police to deal with a mental health situation.
“Even though it’s mental health issues, if there is a deadly weapon involved, law enforcement has to prepare for the worst.” Andy Anderson, a former Phoenix assistant police chief and police practices expert said.
He says more mental health experts should be involved but are needed earlier. Anderson said police must prepare for the worst case scenario. If a man is armed, they have to eb able to prepare for the potential use of using lethal force.
“The reason law enforcement has been called on these kind of situations is that it is already out of control.” Anderson said “And you find good people, having the worst day of their lives.”
Scottsdale police would not confirm if officers with mental heath training were at the scene on Nov. 11, as the incident is still under investigation.
In an email, Scottsdale Police Department said they have a “very active Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) program.”
According to the same email, there are 136 sworn officers who have received the 40 hours of CIT training. Of those 136 officers, 58 officers and 12 sergeants are part of patrol.
The department also says it has seven person unit made up civilian mental health/social work professionals, established back in 1975 to assists officers on calls such as suicides, domestic violence, runaways and mental health crisis.
We reached out to the Greek Orthodox Church about the 2016 incident. In a statement Father Evagoras Constantinides, spokesman of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, said:
"The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America deplores violence and abuse of any form, and the sexual abuse of children is particularly despicable.
We are committed to the protection of youth, and to that end, we have in place comprehensive and robust youth protection policies, including screening and training requirements for clergy and other youth workers.”
12 News reached out to the family of the man who plead guilty in the 2016 case. However, received no response. Without comment, 12 News has decided to not name those who were part of the 2016 incident.
If you or a loved one is struggling you can go to the Cactus Coalition website.
Also there is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or Empact Crisis Hotline.
If you would like to help the Mellon family, they do have a GoFundMe.