The 2700 block of Mosher Street was quiet and calm Thursday morning, except for the noises from construction crews working on Ashburton Street and West Lafayette Avenue.

There were no signs that a 70-year-old woman had been fatally shot by Baltimore Police after she allegedly lunged at them amid a mental health crisis a day earlier. This is the second fatal Baltimore Police officer-involved shooting in West Baltimore in a little more than a week.

“How quickly they are to make us disappear,” said Janet Bailey, the president of Laburt Improvement Community Association.

In her tie-dye shirt, blue shorts and brown sandals, Bailey walked the block in 90-degree weather early Thursday. No one could give her the name of the woman who died, but that didn’t stop her attempts to memorialize her.

Bailey created a sign that read “We Mourn Our Loss” and rested it and flowers near Ashburton and Mosher streets. She’s praying people will add more flowers and write their names on the sign.

The neighborhood is filled with rowhomes, some of which look abandoned. Others are fenced off with patches of green in the front yards.

On Wednesday, police were called twice to the Mosher neighborhood to address a woman experiencing a mental health crisis. The two calls, per the Maryland attorney general’s office’s preliminary investigation, were for a wellness check and a woman attempting to stab the caller.

According to Police Commissioner Richard Worley, they had been to the home about 20 times before. The woman allegedly lunged at officers with a knife, and they deployed a Taser on her. Officers gave verbal commands and one fell over a chair while trying to leave the house, Worley said.

According to Worley, the woman lunged at that officer while he was on the ground and another shot her twice. The attorney general’s office said Thursday another officer deployed their Taser.

Officers rendered aid to the woman, but she died at a nearby hospital from her injuries. The officer who fell was taken to a hospital, treated and has since been released, the attorney general’s office said.

The Independent Investigations Division of the Maryland Office of the Attorney General is leading the investigation. Officials have not released the names of the woman killed or of the officer who fatally shot her.

Simultaneously Wednesday in the 100 block of West 29th Street, Northern District officers were hours into responding to a 32-year-old man threatening to jump from the 13th floor of an apartment balcony, police said.

According to the Baltimore Police Department, officers responded around 6 a.m. Wednesday and worked for 16 hours to negotiate and pull the man back into the building. Negotiators, crisis response units and Baltimore City Fire Department personnel assisted in this case.

Baltimore Police’s Crisis Response

Baltimore’s Behavioral Health Gap Analysis Implementation Plan outlined how police dispatchers should divert 911 calls for behavioral health crises to clinicians at Here2Help, the Baltimore Crisis Response hotline, after they have answered key questions about their situation.

This plan was implemented following an assessment of the Baltimore Police Department’s behavioral health service system as required in the April 2017 consent decree. Baltimore Police officers take varying levels of training on responding to crises.

All BPD officers are required to take 24 hours of entry-level behavioral health awareness training and eight hours of in-service training. Dispatchers and 911 specialists are required to take eight hours of in-service training.

Crisis Intervention Team Certified Patrol Officers must take 40 hours of specialization training and an annual eight-hour refresher training. Those who are part of the Crisis Response Team take 40 hours of specialization training and advanced training and co-respond with a licensed clinician to behavioral health crises.

The curriculum for the Crisis Intervention Team includes multiple classes, including two from the Baltimore office of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

According to Julie Funk of NAMI Baltimore, the organization provides workshops on empathy and working with families and caregivers in crisis to Baltimore and Baltimore County Police officers. Last year, it led 15 training sessions with Baltimore and Baltimore County Police.

‘Over 20 times’

Learning about both situations on Wednesday, Bailey couldn’t help but wonder if there was no other way to handle the situation in her neighborhood than to kill the woman.

“Are we now picking and choosing who’s an asset and a liability? Are we now choosing who lives and dies?” Bailey asked, sweating and frustrated.

Bailey couldn’t stop asking why police didn’t call the Crisis Stabilization Center at Tuerk House, just a four-minute walk away. “You’ve been there over 20 times,” she said. The center, which offers short-term care for people in crisis, accepts walk-ins and referrals from EMS, hospitals and mobile crisis teams.

Chris Maynard, a spokesperson for Tuerk House, said the organization offers psychotherapy, counseling, substance use treatment and a pharmacy. Its Crisis Stabilization Center serves people with substance use disorder and co-occurring mental health issues, Maynard said.

Loved ones and first responders bring patients to the center, however. It doesn’t respond to crisis calls.

“If we have a clinician available, they would get on the line for sure,” Maynard said, “but we’re sort of like an ER where they come to us.”

Bailey’s suggestion that police have assistance, though, resonated with others in the community, including Aaron Maybin, the chairman of the Baltimore City Civilian Review Board. In a statement shared on Instagram, Maybin called for greater trauma-informed care and deescalation training for police and residents.

“When a person has a history with mental health issues, a situation like this needs to be looked at as a behavioral health emergency and responded to with the necessary tools and resources to ensure the safety of officers and the people in the community that they are meant to serve,” Maybin said.

Nine days ago, Baltimore Police officers fatally shot arabber Bilal “BJ” Abdullah 38 times after he fired three shots at them in the 1700 block of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Abdullah’s shooting, which also happened in West Baltimore, sparked outrage among residents toward police and led to a rally Friday ahead of his funeral Saturday. On Monday, police released body camera video that showed the moments that led up to the deadly shooting between Abdullah and police.

“It is truly unfortunate that two lives have recently been lost. Community members are concerned about the use of force resulting in death,” Councilman John Bullock said Thursday. “Such events highlight the need for deescalation in the midst of mental health crises. We understand the dangers inherent in law enforcement and also mourn with families for the loss of life of their loved ones.”

A man also died in police custody early Wednesday morning after Baltimore officers restrained him during what officials described as a mental health crisis — a case now under investigation by the Maryland Office of the Attorney General.

According to a preliminary report from the IID, the encounter began in West Baltimore around 9:40 p.m. Tuesday, when a man approached a Baltimore Police officer stopped at a traffic light near West Franklin Street and North Franklintown Road. The man, who has not been publicly identified, repeatedly walked into the road, prompting the officer to intervene “for the man’s own safety,” according to the IID.