family and friends of Jersey City resident Andrew Jerome Washington turned out in droves Tuesday night to mourn the loss of the 52-year-old who was fatally shot by police over the weekend while having a mental health episode in his home loved ones say they were trying to get him help from a crisis intervention team but contend the city failed them now his death is renewing calls from activists over how these situations are handled senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan has the story lit candles linked arms and prayed for the soul of 52 year old Andrew Jerome Washington shot by Jersey City police while he suffered a mental health crisis this past Sunday about 200 mourners attended the vigil in front of Washington's home where he died after his family called Jersey City Medical Center's intervention hotline for help we were trying to work with the system how they told us and it didn't work that's right and now Drew is not with us never works we're so saddened his aunt Doris Irvin called Washington a kind heart a loving person but explained the family struggled with his mental health episodes in 2012 police shot her nephew in the arm during a similar confrontation we knew he needed assistance so we did reach out we were just so concerned that he would harm himself not others we were more concerned with him harming himself Irvin says she watched the tragedy unfold Sunday that after paramedics summoned police the family pleaded with officers not to use lethal Force Police claim Washington lunged at them with a knife and they lied to us telling us that they were just kind of to defuse the problem and we're going to put them in the mobile unit when they took him out they didn't tell us he was even shot they said oh just wait we have a report for you guys to do Mayor Stephen fullup viewed the police body cam videos and said officers acted appropriately according to protocol but Advocates questioned that noting one officer carried a taser but the other drew his gun one officer thought that lethal force was justifiable and the other didn't or he wouldn't have tasted it represents an inconsistency and it represents an inconsistency that the mayor thinks that we are too stupid to pick up on Washington's cousin noted bitterly Philip who's running for governor didn't see the victim as a person that's to them that person is not a brother they're not a son they're not a cousin they are a speed bump on the road to the governorship that they want to flatten Phillips campaign didn't respond before our news deadline the family vowed to fight for justice there's nothing absolutely nothing justifiable about ignorance paired with deadly force let us honor Drew not with mere words but with action let his tragic death fuel our resolve to fight for a world where police are not the judge the jury and executioner for those battling mental illness Advocates pointed to Naji Seabrooks the Patterson man who was shot by police during a similar mental health breakdown Reverend Charles Boyer described it as systemic racism the person in crisis does not trust the police in the very presence of the police exacerbates the crisis so we can train police all day long when we're in a mental health crisis it's not the police we want to see it's family it's friends Boyer called for reforms to minimize police involvement the State Attorney General's office is creating new response teams that partner plane close cops with mental health reps the AGS investigating this case and has not yet announced if or when body cam footage will be released I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight news [Music]