DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Bodycam footage shows Jerome Anderson appearing to be cooperative with Daytona Beach police as they take him into custody.
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That happened moments after they said he called 911 and confessed to killing his roommate, neighbor and another man walking down the street.
A week later, his sister, Meriam Robinson, is speaking out, saying she’s been trying to get help for her brother for more than a year.
“He called several people and said he was rich, he was God and he was going to kill people,” Robinson said.
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Robinson tried to have her brother taken into custody on a mental health hold last May, but he was released after a weekend in the hospital.
A social worker then suggested she try to become his conservator so she could be in charge of his care full-time, but Robinson said that wasn’t successful either.
President of Mental Health Association of Central Florida Marni Stahlman said that’s a fight many families struggle with.
“It’s difficult for them to intervene and that places law enforcement in a difficult situation as well, because they don’t have the right to take that individual,” she said.
Stahlman points to problems with funding across Florida.
“it’s dribbed and drabbed down to each of us individually,” she said. “We have to go begging with a cup in our hand each time. and the number of people in our communities who are suffering from mental illness isn’t decreasing, it’s increasing.”
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Robinson hopes sharing her story will force changes and save another family from tragedy.
“Because he didn’t get that help and I didn’t get that help, they failed all these families and they failed my brother,” she said. “This could have been avoided.”
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