OLYMPIA, Wash. — Millie Green said she forgives the Olympia police officer who shot and killed her son Tim Green last year.
“But I’ll never forget,” said Millie Green, who returned on Tuesday to the strip mall where her son was shot one year ago.
Tim Green was shot August 22, 2022, after investigators said he had been acting erratically at two businesses and approached an officer with a knife.
Detectives from outside the Olympia Police Department investigated the shooting and presented the case to Clark County prosecutors to determine if any laws were broken. The officer who fired his weapon is on paid administrative leave, pending the investigation.
Millie Green said regardless of any charging decision, she thinks the officer should resign.
“We can do better for the mentally ill people,” said Millie Green, who said her son struggled with mental illness for years.
She said the day he was killed, Tim Green was on drugs and had been drinking.
Two of the officers who responded to the call had a recent run-in with her son, Millie Green said, and should have known he had mental health problems. She said they should have done more to de-escalate the incident before it got violent.
According to police, an employee at an AM/PM convenience store called 911 to report Green, 37, had stolen beer and the employee used pepper spray to get Tim Green to leave.
Moments later someone from the Starbucks next door called police saying Tim Green had locked himself in the bathroom and was agitated and shouting, according to investigators.
Police said when officers arrived, Tim Green ran into traffic and when they tried to arrest him, he moved toward one of the officers with a knife. An Olympia spokesperson said the city will review its policies and procedures after the charging decision comes from prosecutors.
Family and community members gathered in the parking lot behind the Starbucks Tuesday to mark the day when Green was shot.
Millie Green said she hopes the show of support, as well as her son’s death, will encourage police and elected officials to do more for the mentally ill.
The shooting, she said, changed her family.
”To grow stronger, to grow closer to each other and cherish each other,” said Millie Green, “Because tomorrow’s not promised.”