Kyle Vass/ WVPB Johanna Miesner and other Charleston residents spoke out in favor of more mental health response resources during a city council meeting.
Activists continue to push the City of Charleston to implement policing alternatives after an incident where police officers shot a man last month.
At the Charleston City Council meeting on Monday, local activist Hunter Starks asked that police not be dispatched on every 911 call. Starks said there are other ways to approach vulnerable citizens in the throes of a mental breakdown.
“When someone is in crisis, an authority figure with a gun will always feel like a threat for so many reasons,” Starks said.
Virginia Marie Smith
CHARLESTON A new development has come forward in the case involving the murder of Jackson County resident Cheyenne Johnson.
After a witness was interviewed, it was discovered Virginia Marie Smith, 29, 1244 Britton Ridge Road, Charleston, shot and killed Johnson last week, according to a criminal complaint filed with the Kanawha County Magistrate Court.
As previously reported Michael Wayne Smith, 41, same address, admitted to killing Johnson and putting her body in a well but according to Chief Deputy Greg Young of the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department, Virginia was the one who shot Johnson.
“He was complicit in the murder and caused other injuries. He wasn’t telling the whole truth. It wasn’t him, it was Virginia,” Young said.
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