SPOKANE, Wash. — Doug Brant was more than a brother. His sister Trudy says he was her best friend.
"To not really be a sister anymore, I was a sister, that's really hard," Trudy said.
Doug, a Providence Home Health caregiver, died a horrific death last December. Police say he was shot to death by a patient's grandson during a home visit. 33-year-old Mitchell Chandler was arrested the following day on skis and told KREM 2 during a jailhouse interview that he killed Doug believing he was responsible for 9/11.
"I don't see this as anything for blame," Trudy said. "I see it as a tragic mistake of our inability to care for our mentally ill and this of course is the absolute worst case scenario."
As Trudy grieved the loss of her brother, she couldn't help but think about what Chandler's family was going through. In a way, his mom had lost her only son.
"I just also felt that she must be in tremendous pain," Trudy said. "I can't imagine being on that end of it and I just wanted to reach out to her and say there's no blame. We're all grieving and it's a horrible loss."
The two agreed to meet the Friday before Christmas and Trudy learned a lot about the 33-year-old suspect, whose childhood was filled with love. Chandler's mom said he was a straight A student, a talented singer and athlete who received a full academic scholarship to the University of Fairbanks.
After college, he took up bull riding in Texas and suffered a series of traumatic brain injuries.
"He was an amazing young man before he had his head injury and it morphed into some schizophrenic place for him," Trudy said.
His mom said Chandler became a completely different person; withdrawn, unable to provide for himself. Then, he started to become more violent.
"Mental illness crosses all boundaries," Trudy said.
Chandler's mom took him to several doctors. They said he had a mild case of schizophrenia and as an adult, no one could force him to take medication. She said even after her son assaulted a vet who was unable to save his grandmother's dog, the court didn't order him to take his meds. That was also the case when Chandler intentionally cut off part of his own ear, according to his mother.
"It's just heartbreaking that we as a system allowed him to stay on the streets when he was this broken without any intervention and I think that that is the big elephant in the room," Trudy said. "It's not that he's a horrible person, it's that he has a horrible mental illness."
Trudy now hopes that Doug's story and Mitchell's story will spark some sort of change in the way we treat the mentally ill. She recently got a call from Eric Wexler, president and C.O.O at Providence St. Joseph Health, who is speaking to lawmakers and the medicare committee on mental illness.
"He said, 'I told your bother's story in every meeting and that was what brought their eyes to a brightness and attention' and he said we had the most productive talks that I've ever participated in," Trudy said.
KREM 2 asked Trudy what type of punishment Chandler deserves if he's found guilty. She doesn't think prison would do him any good.
"I just hope that he ends up being able to get treatment and being able to get his right mind back and being able to just be who he is, be sorry," Trudy said. "I am pretty sure he won't be in society ever again, but I hope for his sake the person he was before this injury can reappear a little bit."
Chandler's mom, Annette, spoke with KREM 2 over the phone and shared this statement:
"Yes, Mitchell had a really good childhood, he was the first grandchild on both sides and supported and loved dearly by both families. He received straight A’s all thru school and graduated high school with honors and received a full academic scholarship to University of Fairbanks, Alaska, where he graduated with a four year degree. He also received a scholarship for running, he was a very accomplished athletic even placing in the top at the Brooks competition.
Then decided to go into bull riding in Texas and didn’t make it out of the shoot and hit his head on the gate and lost part of his ear and went to the hospital with a severe concussion and had his ear stitched up. He stayed with a friend for several months then came home since, he wasn’t doing well providing for himself. We then saw a completely different person. He was very withdrawn and quiet, not himself at all but, physically okay. He couldn’t hold down a job, didn’t have friends any longer and would do crazy things. Things like board his window up in his bedroom, fearing someone would steal his bike. And build large antennas in the yard with household items to stop the voices. He went in and assaulted the veterinarian that lost his grandmas elderly dog while trying to fix one of it’s teeth in surgery. And also threatened some construction workers for building houses close to his house that he didn’t want built.
I took him to several doctors and they just said, he had a mild case of schizophrenia and there wasn’t anything they could do since, he wouldn’t take medication and no one can force him since, he’s an adult. It didn’t matter he’s to paranoid and afraid to do it for himself, I felt so helpless. I took him to counseling at Frontier Mental Health for years and was told the same thing several times there’s nothing we can do until he hurts himself or someone else since, he’s an adult. He went to court for his assault charges and nothing was court ordered as far as making him take medication. Then three years ago he cut a part of his already injured ear off with wire cutters to get the microphone out that he thought they implanted when they stitched him up in Texas. As a mother I was mortified but, also thought finally NOW they will help him, he has hurt himself. But NO he went to the Sacred Heart Psychiatric ward for four hours and was quickly released.
Trudy is in the medical field and says, that there is a shot they can give once a month that can help stop the voices. If only the court, the mental health professionals or the nurses at the psych ward at Sacred Heart had issued that, or even told me about it, maybe this tragedy wouldn’t have happened. I feel like this could happen to anyone’s young adult child.
I want people to know that before Mitchell’s injury he was a very talented, kind and loving person and would help any of his friends or family whenever asked. And he would never hurt anyone’s feelings let alone anyone physically, he was a very sensitive person. He had many friends and was very charismatic and always the first to sing and dance or tell a joke.
It was a pleasure to meet Trudy, I just wish it could have been under different circumstances. It was enlightening, she was very helpful with all my emotions. I felt her pain and I felt like she felt mine. We ended our meeting with a prayer for both sides."
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