Outreach staff at Vegas Stronger field dozens of calls each day from people in the throes of mental health crises.
Brandon Lite, a program director with the nonprofit’s Mobile Response Team, often takes those calls while brushing his teeth early in the morning or late in the night.
The team works to promptly assess and assist people in the valley experiencing acute mental health or substance-use crises. When callers have no way to reach the nonprofit’s rehabilitation facility at 916 N. Main St., Lite picks them up on his way there.
Those conversations can stall a dynamic dilemma and help calm the caller.
“Crisis is very acute, it happens quickly and it tends to end quickly,” Lite said. “If we can just put time and distance in between what that crisis is, usually, it solves itself.”
Following shootings involving the Metropolitan Police Department — including the death of officer Austin Abdelnabi at the hands of a man reportedly experiencing psychosis and a confrontation involving a suspect armed with a blowtorch and a gun — Lite and CEO Dave Marlon said that balancing risk with the need to help someone in a psychotic break can be tricky.
Generally, Vegas Stronger defers cases involving people who are armed or violent to police, Marlon said. Outreach staff sometimes assist officers at scenes when Metro requests their help.
“I need to keep my staff safe, and if there’s a cat with a gun, let Metro handle that,” Marlon said. “They have body armor and training, and we can’t help people unless we’re here.”
Lite agreed.
“Metro does their job, and they train officers well,” he said. “They are versed in de-escalation.”
Still, Lite said, it can be difficult to adhere to de-escalation principles while responding with a gun and badge.
“That’s just one of those things we can’t get around,” he said.
Two police shootings in a week
Authorities have said that Abdelnabi, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, was ambushed by 21-year-old Angel Lucas Lindsey, who authorities said had pointed a handgun at a woman. The gunman’s relatives said he experienced “bad mental episodes,” including talking to himself for hours, before the shooting.
Lucas Lindsey was struck twice during the shooting: once in the chest by another officer, and once in the head by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Days later, officer Zaira Venegas-Hernandez was shot by 48-year-old Jason Simmons, whose girlfriend, Nichole Drummond, called 911 to report that he was chasing her with a blowtorch.
Body camera footage showed officers trying to clear rooms in the house. In one of the first rooms they entered, they said they found a teenage girl suffering from a gunshot wound.
As Venegas-Hernandez tried to get into a room where Simmons had locked himself inside, he fired several rounds through the door, police said. One bullet went through two dozen layers of Venegas-Hernandez’s ballistic vest and caused a chest injury. She returned fire.
SWAT and crisis negotiators were called. When Metro officers re-entered, they found Simmons and Drummond’s 14-year-old daughter, Aven, dead.
Nichole Drummond, who made it out of the home before Metro re-entered, was taken to the hospital for burn injuries and a gunshot wound. She told police that Simmons had shot himself.
Metro’s Crisis Negotiation Team has responded to 35 incidents since the start of the year, including Monday’s shooting, according to a department spokesperson. Metro did not respond to a question about whether negotiators were deployed to the police shooting involving Abdelnabi.
The team, which operates under Metro’s SWAT umbrella, is deployed for standoffs, hostage situations and other incidents when a tactical commander determines that crisis negotiators are needed.
Team members serve in other primary roles within the department and work as crisis negotiators secondarily. The unit includes officers, civilian employees and medical professionals from various sections of Metro.
Negotiators complete a 40-hour basic negotiator school as part of their training.
The team was dispatched to 50 incidents in 2025 and 55 incidents in 2024.
‘Seven-day-a-week crisis response’ necessary
Since its opening more than a decade ago, Vegas Stronger has grown exponentially, Marlon said.
Staff handle 10 to 15 intakes, many of whom are walk-ins, each day, the CEO added.
Each month, staff also pick up dozens of people being released from local jails. Other times, Metro officers drop arrestees off at Vegas Stronger’s door, giving them two choices: treatment or jail.
The nonprofit employs 100 clinicians and is seeking certification as a behavioral health center. Marlon said Vegas Stronger already meets the requirements and is awaiting the state’s review of its application.
“We need to provide seven-day a-week care and seven-day-a-week crisis response,” Marlon said.
UMC’s Crisis Stabilization Center, which opened in late June 2025, helped reduce the strain of mental health crises on law enforcement and the public health system, according to Dr. Ketan Patel, director of the center and the hospital’s Adult Emergency Department.
“We know that a lot of patients in our community suffer from mental health crises for numerous reasons, and while we do have certain resources for those folks, there is a big gap in terms of where they can go and seek help when immediate help is needed,” Patel said.
The 17,000-square-foot outpatient facility, located at 5409 E. Lake Mead Blvd., treats substance use and mental health issues, providing treatment and resources, such as medical screenings, psychiatric evaluations, prescriptions, solution-focused therapies and case management.
EMS, crisis intervention teams and law enforcement agencies transport the bulk of patients to the facility, though 30 percent of its clientele is self-referred.
“I do think we have some of that scaffolding in place and now it’s just connecting those dots,” Patel said. “We’re glad we’re a link in that chain, where we are seen as a resource for those in need.”
Previously, jails and emergency departments were seen as the only avenues for help, evidenced by the high volume of patients in crisis with substance use disorders and psychiatric emergencies, Patel said.
During the facility’s first two months, it saw more than 250 patients total. Since then, Patel said there has been a noticeable positive effect on reducing the strain on the health system and jails, with the center caring for 537 patients in July.
“It’s hard to quantify that effect, but it’s got to be appreciable because we’ve seen an increase in the patients per day that are coming,” Patel said. “We know that over the last couple months, it’s actually been about 17 patients per day … and that means that instead of going to ERs or jail or other destinations, those patients are being brought here.”
If you’re thinking about suicide, or are worried about a friend or loved one, help is available 24/7 by calling or texting the Lifeline network at 988. Live chat is available at 988lifeline.org. Additionally, the Crisis Text Line is a free, national service available 24/7. Text HOME to 741741.
Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com. Contact Devan Patel at dpatel@reviewjournal.com.
