After two months of watching their brother recover from multiple gunshot wounds suffered during a mental health crisis where a Chatham Police officer shot him, sisters Sunshine Clemons and Shawnaci Schroeder took to social media this week to speak out for their brother, Gregory Small Jr. It s Mental Health Awareness Month and we really want to highlight changes that are needed in our society,” said Clemons, who is the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Springfield. “We really need a mental health crisis response option other than the police.”
While the sisters hope talking publicly about their family’s recent experience will start productive conversations about mental health and bring awareness to how mental health crisis calls are handled, the family’s primary objective is getting the aggravated assault charge brought against Small dropped.