A family friend who started a Go Fund Me page for 19 year old Quinn MacDougall says the teen was in severe mental distress in the moments before his death and MacDougall was the one who called 911 in the first place.

“He was scared and he felt he needed help and he did what he could. He called police himself he called 911.”

Shannon Windsor lives on Caledon avenue where the shooting occurred on Tuesday. She says MacDougall ran to her brothers house, who also lives on the street and asked to use the phone to call for help. Her kids were playing on the street and saw the shooting.

Windsor created the Go Fund Me page, to help the family raise money for funeral expenses. On the page she writes that Macdougall was experiencing a “severe mental crisis”.

“He was loved by his family. Every time you saw him he was always happy. He put a smile on your face.”

The tragic situation reminds Windsor of her other friend who was shot and killed by Hamilton police in September of 2016. 36 year old Anthony Divers was pronounced dead in hospital. The SIU was called to in to probe the shooting death and found no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges against the officer who killed him. At the time Divers’ family believed he was experiencing a mental crisis.

The SIU says police received calls that MacDougall was armed with a weapon but would not say if he was tazed before he was shot.