Almost three weeks after the tragic shooting death of local resident James Dockery, the Vigo County Sheriff’s Office has denied a request for the body camera footage of the incident.

Representatives from the department quoted Indiana Code 5-14-3-4(b)(1), “investigatory records of law enforcement agencies may be withheld from disclosure at the discretion of the agency,” as justification for the denial.

Just a few hours after the shooting took place Sgt. Matt Ames, public information officer for the Indiana State Police Department, issued a statement with a full description of the events, presumably based on the testimony of the two deputies involved, Chris Hawkins and Dayton Huebner.

Portions of that same description appeared, almost verbatim, in an article published by the Tribune Star the same day. The ISP statement also mentioned that Sheriff Plasse had requested ISP detectives handle the investigation.

It was later revealed that Dockery had been working as a case manager for Hamilton Center, and in the days following his death many expressed how desperately our community needs to invest in mental health care.

It appears that just minutes before a call for service was placed Dockery posted to his Facebook account several times including one post that read, “I’m so ready…so ready,” and “Is it bad that I want to go out in a blaze of fury?”

According to the ISP press release, the deputies had been dispatched to, “7479 South Carlisle Street, in reference to a welfare check of a suicidal male subject.”

The details of Dockery’s interaction with the deputies and the events leading up to the call for service are still unknown at this time.

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention has recently reported that suicide is the second leading cause of death for individuals ages 25-34, and the total rates of suicide were 2% higher in Indiana than the national average.

If you’re having thoughts of suicide there is a 24 hour hotline that can be reached by dialing 988, and if you’re not sure what to say the International Association for Suicide Prevention has a few quotes you can copy and send to a trusted friend including, “This is really hard for me to say but I’m having painful thoughts and it might help to talk. Are you free?”