Statement regarding the brutal machete attack of Chris Sullen, Advantage Day Center employee, by homeless suspect with perceived mental health issues.
SafeD Athens has worked tirelessly for over 2 years to truly make a difference in the lives of mentally ill homeless on the streets of Athens. We met Chris two years ago at an Athens Clarke County housing meeting. Chris is a super nice person and very knowledgeable. We are sick this happened to him. He has a long road ahead of him. We pray for his full recovery.
According to court documents the suspect in this case received a plea bargain (from a possible 20 years to 7 years) for a 2017 assault on a UGA student (Knife incident) during the tenure of the previous district attorney.
Mental health circumstances appear to have played a part in 2017 plea deal. Did he receive the Mental Health Exam? Did he receive treatment? He was on parole when Chris was brutally attacked leaving work.
Checking further back in the suspect’s criminal history, he was charged with aggravated assault against a woman (knife incident) in 2013. Condition of his bond at the time was transport to an Advantage facility offering community support treatment (CST) with a list of possible medications; possible mental health issues were known in 2013. Yet here we are in 2024 with a life-threatening machete attack on Mr. Sullen.
It is well documented that over half of the unsheltered homeless on the streets have mental health/substance abuse issues and assaults are common place. Usually these assaults occur between homeless individuals but on occasion violence turns to an unassociated innocent bystander. Half of the unsheltered homeless on the streets are NOT from Athens when asked where they lived prior to becoming homeless, with some from as far away as New York. People discharged from mental facilities or released by law enforcement by other surrounding counties are still being sent to Athens, primarily to Bigger Vision; sometimes sent voluntarily and other times involuntarily, in other words “dropped off”.
In this particular case, the homeless suspect is from Athens and court documents suggest he has family here. Did he choose to be on the streets? Did his family give up or have no recourse to obtain help for him? These are just some of the unanswered questions. The important question is - How do we get these people needed psychiatric help when they refuse or have no safety net?
Because of above circumstances, SafeD Athens has supported the building of mental health treatment housing (MHTH) at Advantage Behavioral Health with 24/7 treatment services available on site.
Our Mayor and Commission admit and are accepting of Athens being a central HUB for homeless services. With this designation comes added illicit drugs on the streets, nationally affiliated gangs, and crime. And yes, an increase in mentally ill individuals on our streets. Unfortunately, our local government has not responded fast enough to this increasing safety/security crisis.
It will be at least another year or more before the Mental Health Treatment Housing facility will be online at Advantage Behavioral Health. Funding for the project has been piecemeal resulting in delays. Funding could have been allocated from the $57 million of ARPA dollars Athens received from the Federal Treasury two years ago. This facility could have been built by now. Instead, piecemeal funding included the SPLOST 2020 Project 28 funding of $4 million, $4 million finally allocated from the ARPA “mental health” bucket, Advantage was able to obtain a federal grant administered through the state for roughly $4 million, and $1.5 million was just recently secured through the ARPA “homeless” allocation “bucket” in accordance with the “homeless” consultant hired (Cloudburst) which requires the facility to accept active drug users. We contend that the Cloudburst study was inaccurate, flawed and designed solely to create infrastructure to increase federal “Housing First” HUD dollars for homeless “warehousing” absent of mental health treatment.
Instead of immediately fully funding this Mental Health Treatment Housing (MHTH) project, the Mayor and Commission chose to spend $2.5 million plus of ARPA funds on a sanctioned homeless tent camp, and many other things. Now we are are seeing on the streets the results of their failed policies and quite frankly, the failed “Housing First” policy of the federal government, requiring zero mental health treatment and zero accountability.
We are counting on this new MHTH facility to be successful in helping most people take control of their lives, manage their mental health to ultimately live independently, and get off the streets. Success also must include the means to triage those with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI) to permanent mental health facility placement as warranted.
Read our homeless articles on SafeDathens.org for background. Read our emails to the Mayor and Commission here email #1, email #2, email #3, imploring them to divert funding towards MHTH, and a Block by Block pilot for downtown Athens which would include homeless outreach ambassadors. Absolutely no one from government would respond to our recommendations. In fact, some commissioners agree to meet then radio silence. Read our critique (powerpoint) of the homeless consultant report from Cloudburst here. Read our proposed ordinance to the city here. Read our proposal for a Block by Block pilot project downtown to include homeless outreach here (powerpoint). Solutions exist and this tragedy didn’t have to happen. The right kind of homeless support and safety/security measures we have endlessly advocated may have prevented this tragedy and also may have even saved Laken Riley’s life.
Most large businesses, shopping centers, churches in Athens use private security now. City government approved safety patrols for city hall. All of this primarily due to the pervasive and sometimes aggressive nature of unsheltered homeless who have been on the streets in Athens for years. A population that continues to grow over time with many individuals first documented back in 2018. Again, we recommended use of Block by Block for a cohesive approach to safety patrols and homeless outreach with real-time accountability. No one will listen, including the University of Georgia, Athens.
UGA needs to stop being protective and realize a safe and secure university is paramount to any ‘branding’. Athens Clarke County Unified Government needs to stop ignoring that over half of the unsheltered on the streets in Athens have mental health and substance abuse issues, not as a result of being homeless but as a root cause of their homelessness; stop ignoring that half are from out of town with some coming from mental health facilities elsewhere. Furthermore, people need to push back against Athens Clarke County being the ONLY HUB for homeless services with all types of supportive housing offering zero accountability or mental health treatment. And, push back against Athens being an acceptable place for transient homeless individuals to visit, camp, sell drugs and get high. We are sick of these stories. We are tired.