9 months after their son was shot in State College, the Osagies are still looking for answers
Iyun Osagie started the year moderating a Martin Luther King Jr. Day speech delivered by Trayvon Martin’s mother at Oregon State.
She ends the year mourning the loss of her son, Osaze, nine months after he was fatally shot by a State College police officer.
“It’s not a club I wanna belong to,” she said Friday, sitting on a tan couch in her State College home. “... This was someone I never met in my life, but the university asked me to be the moderator. That’s the only reason I was on the same stage with her, not knowing that practically two months later I would be grieving the loss of my own child. It really was just beyond belief.”
Martin was fatally shot in 2012 by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who was later acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter. The case sparked national discussion about racial profiling and civil rights.
Osaze’s death, which was precipitated by three borough police officers attempting to serve a mental health warrant, spawned months of conversation about mental health services and race relations in Centre County.
Difficult holiday season for grieving parents
Osaze’s father, Sylvester, reported his eldest son missing in March after he received text messages that warned of trouble with the police “in a little bit.”
A subsequent phone call between the two ended when Osaze, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and Asperger syndrome, said he was going to die, county District Attorney Bernie Cantorna wrote in his 228-page report about the shooting.
Sylvester’s search took him to places he knew Osaze often visited, including the Nittany Mall. Police, meanwhile, found the 29-year-old at his Marvin Gardens apartment.
Officers knocked on his door, he ran at them with a knife and was fatally shot. The entire incident happened in less than 30 seconds, Cantorna wrote.
Sylvester said he learned what happened when he left the mall, returned to Osaze’s apartment and saw several police vehicles near the apartment complex.
“I suspected that something had happened. I asked a police officer what happened, and he told me he could not tell me anything. But then the caretaker of the apartment came around and said, ‘Are you Osaze’s dad?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ Then he said, ‘I’m so sorry,’ ” Sylvester said. “... I was numb. The finality of the situation was hard to take. It’s like, ‘Oh, so he’s gone? Just like that?’ That was very difficult. It was surreal.”
He called Iyun, who was in Oregon, shortly after to tell her Osaze was “gone,” but did not explicitly say what happened. Neither did anyone else she spoke with.
“I was all alone in my house, and suddenly I realized I had been so busy trying to get myself out of there that I wasn’t taking calls. I finally just checked a text message from someone who asked me if I knew who this person was that was shot by the police. It was like 11 p.m. and I was all alone,” Iyun said. “It was like someone just shot me. ... I felt like someone just pulled a gun and shot me dead. That’s how bad it was.”
The last photo Iyun took of Osaze, who was born on the Osagies’ three year wedding anniversary and bore his father’s middle name, was Christmas 2018.
He often did not want to be in photos — something that was representative of his reserved, quiet nature. He would’ve much rather been reading the Bible or writing, the Osagies said.
“I had no idea that would be the last time I saw him. It’s been hard,” Iyun said. “I’ve always seen myself as very strong, but this season has been harder than usual.”
Concerns for mental health system, race issues remain
Police in Centre County, which are required by state law to serve mental health warrants, are on pace to respond to a record-setting amount of mental health, emotional distress or behavioral health crises in 2019.
Factors behind the increase are varied, though Penn State Counseling and Psychological Services Senior Director Ben Locke said communities have been tasked with responding to a burgeoning demand.
“The unfortunate situation is that the number of people with emotional problems is increasing,” Sylvester said. “If it’s possible for experts in this area to look into societal attributes capable of inducing these problems, that would be very, very helpful. If the system is overwhelmed, you really can’t do much.”
State College and Centre County earlier this year established a joint mental health task force to look at examine the continuum of care in the county’s mental health system. At a Borough Council meeting last month, Sylvester applauded the effort, though Andrew Shubin, the Osagies’ attorney, questioned why members of the task force have not been identified.
The borough alone pledged $200,000 to fund the task force, a racial equity plan and an outside consultant to review the accredited police department’s policies and procedures.
State College police chief John Gardner and Assistant Borough Manager of Public Safety Tom King in July said they were eager to hear recommendations from the task force, including the viability of co-responder programs.
“The way the police responded knowing it was a medical meltdown, obviously, there’s just no excuse for that,” Iyun said.
Some community residents, including the Osagies, have questioned the borough’s transparency since the shooting.
Its administration declined to release any of the officers’ names during the state police investigation, and declined once again when Cantorna announced no criminal charges would be filed.
But when Gardner stepped to the podium during a press conference the day of the shooting, he immediately disclosed a white officer shot a black man.
“Not knowing who the officer is forces me to engage in what you might call a diffused approached in my interactions with officers,” Sylvester said. “I’m going to see an officer and say, ‘Could it possibly be that he was the one that killed my son?’ ”
Community members questioned whether race played a role in the shooting, and it’s something Iyun said she feels was not “allowed to be investigated properly.”
State police Sgt. William Slaton in March emphatically said race played no role in the shooting. Instead, he said the mental health system “failed this gentleman.”
Assistant borough police Chief Matthew Wilson also investigated what he called a “public accusation” and found no references to any racial bias, legitimate use of force complaints or violations of bias-based policing.
The Osagies, however, still wish they knew who fired the fatal shots. The family in September announced their plan to file a lawsuit against the department and the responding officers.
“We’ve never been against the police. Ever. We have friends in the police force. We’ve never seen this situation as the police versus the Osagies, but the situation that happened needs to be addressed for what it is,” Iyun said. “Getting the truth of that situation and responding to what happened is very, very important. No mother would want to see this happen to their child. It’s really important for them to reflect and think about ways to address such situations.”
This story was originally published December 22, 2019 at 7:58 AM.