Photo: Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
In the wake of the Publix shooting last week, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw cited his agency's Behavioral Services unit that was developed specifically to prevent that type of tragedy.
"We'll send a deputy there. We'll send the Behavioral Services unit, which is a deputy and a clinical psychologist and get him some help. That's what this is about. It's not arresting him. It's getting him some help and preventing bad things from happening."
But, the sheriff says he first needs someone to report a person who could be a danger to themselves or others.
"That doesn't mean you just call us and say 'This person's crazy.' Anybody at any point in time can probably look at somebody and say they're acting crazy. We need specifics."
In Timothy Wall's case, the specifics included Facebook posts in which he referenced a desire to "kill people and children," which is exactly what he wound up doing before turning the gun on himself.
Sheriff Bradshaw says a risk protection order could have been issued, potentially leading to the shooter's gun being taken away.
Wall's ex-wife claims the sheriff's office was informed that the man had mental issues and a gun.
"I deal in facts. We do not have documentation that she has called us either formally or informally to report what she is saying that she reported. It's not there."
Bradshaw says PBSO received only one call from Monica Wall and another call from Timothy Wall, both in 2019.
"None of the times that we were there did she mention anything about his mental health or erratic behavior. She did mention that he was drinking and has a gun. Okay. Did he do anything with the gun? No."
He says he never claimed the woman should take all of the blame, but is frustrated that nobody reported that a man with a gun was acting in an irrational manner.
If they had, a risk protection order could have been issued. That might have resulted in a judge ordering Wall's gun be taken away while he received psychiatric help. The risk protection order law was part of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, which passed in the wake of the Parkland shooting.
Investigators with the sheriff's office say Wall wasn't the original purchaser of the handgun used in the Publix shooting.