According to an arrest affidavit, 20-year-old Markus Xavier Benavidez was experiencing a mental health episode at the time of the shooting.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — New details are emerging in the Southside shooting investigation in which police say a 20-year-old man shot and killed his father Monday night.
According to an arrest affidavit, 20-year-old Markus Xavier Benavidez was experiencing a mental health episode at the time of the shooting.
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The affidavit states Benavidez had recently been hospitalized, was taking antipsychotic medication and was experiencing drug withdrawal symptoms.
About an hour before the shooting, the affidavit says Benavidez’s mother contacted a crisis hotline after he told her he was “needing help” and “wasn’t feeling right.” The affidavit also states she reported Benavidez was nodding toward the ceiling as if someone was there.
Ruth Younger with the Nueces Center for Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities, or MHID, said people who call the organization’s crisis hotline are immediately connected with a qualified mental health professional.
“As soon as they make that phone call, they are talking to someone who is a qualified mental health professional,” Younger said.
“That person is screening them for mental health. They are using de-escalation techniques, safety planning, making any type of referrals needed and, overall, just how to help,” she said.
Over the years, Younger said she has noticed more people are willing to seek help.
“There has been an increase in people who are actually open to seeking services, and they’re contacting us, whether that’s calling the local crisis hotline, whether that’s calling 988,” she said.
To better understand local trends, 3NEWS requested 10 years of mental health-related call data from the Corpus Christi Police Department.
The records show officers are responding to significantly more mental health-related calls today than they were a decade ago.
“They’ll try to find any hooks or try to catch on to any theme on why they’re feeling the way that they’re feeling. If it’s something that the person is an immediate danger to themselves or others, we will take them to a hospital under an emergency detention warrant,” CCPD Public Information Officer Madeline Commons said.
As mental health-related calls have increased, CCPD says its partnership with MHID has given officers additional tools to better respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis.
“And we kind of get familiar with them and what they need. Maybe they haven’t gotten their medication for whatever reason in X amount of time, so it could be causing them to be in crisis,” Commons said.