Overview
- The family of Messiah McMillian filed a wrongful-death suit this week seeking $10 million from the City of Chandler and the Chandler Police Department and has asked for a jury trial.
- McMillian was shot and killed on March 20, 2025 while experiencing a mental-health crisis and his mother told 911 she wanted medics or a crisis team instead of armed officers.
- The lawsuit says officers escalated the encounter within seconds, fired four shots after about 29 seconds of contact, and that the officer who shot McMillian was an officer-in-training with roughly four months on the job.
- Reported body-worn camera footage shows McMillian holding a kitchen knife and also appears to show officers waited about two and a half minutes to render medical aid; the family says its requests for that video have been denied and the county prosecutor earlier cleared the officers criminally.
- The case puts Chandler’s handling of behavioral-health calls and training for crisis situations under scrutiny and could lead to civil discovery, policy changes, a trial or settlement that shapes how police and crisis teams respond to similar calls.