Ten years ago, Lynn police killed a veteran in crisis
Denis Reynoso needed help. Instead, a Lynn police officer shot him to death in his home in front of his five-year-old son.
I was just getting some work done and planning to go for a walk when I realized that today is the 10th anniversary of the death of Denis Reynoso, who survived a war in a foreign country only to be killed in his own by the government he served.
Reynoso, a veteran of the Iraq war, was apparently experiencing a mental health crisis as military veterans are known to do. Reynoso needed help. Instead, a Lynn police officer shot him to death in his home in front of his five-year-old son.
According to the three officers involved in the fatal encounter, Reynoso grabbed an officer’s gun from its holster — where it should have been secured, but wasn’t — and fired it. The cops, fearing for their lives as cops are known to do, killed Reynoso.
It’s a story we hear again and again and again and again and again. Someone calls for help, the cops show up, and next thing you know someone’s dead.
The Essex County District Attorney’s Office cleared the three cops of wrongdoing and they were later given medals for bravery by then-Governor Deval Patrick because we live in a sick society that the Old Testament God, if He existed, would have wiped out like Sodom and Gomorrah by now.
Maybe Reynoso took the gun. Maybe he didn’t. Who’s to say for certain? There was no body camera video.
But I am certain that Resynoso wouldn’t have taken a cop’s gun or been killed if no cops had barged into his home on what was probably one of the worst days of his life.
He’d probably still be alive if this country’s system for addressing mental health crises was sending unarmed people who are actually experts in dealing with mental health crises instead of just saying fuck it and sending cops to kill the very people in need of help.
I meant to write something more substantial about this — to do some reporting — but today kind of crept up on me for some reason. This story has been on my mind throughout the past few months, but I guess I’ve just been too busy to find time to work on it.
Or maybe it’s just such a sad story that I subconsciously decided not to touch it; I’ve got other sad stories on my mind and how many sad stories does one mind have room for at any given time?
I don’t know, man.
If you want to learn more about this story, NBC10 Boston’s Shira Stoll made a documentary to which I contributed some video. You can view the documentary, which was first broadcast in November 2021, here:
Speaking of the sick society that we inhabit, make sure you check out the latest episode of Lights Out Mass. We interviewed Luke O’Neil, who writes the Welcome to Hell World newsletter.
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That’s all for now.