When police arrived, Tyran was a 30-year-old man with autism, anxiety and depression. Tragically, he lost this battle himself, taking his life on this Mother’s Day, 2023. His death has raised important questions about our mental health support systems. This tragedy underscores the need to heed the loud and painful warning signs that he raised over the last ten years of his battle with suicide.
As an adult, Tyran continued to struggle with the debilitating effects of his mental health issues. Over the next ten years, he receded into depression, with at least seven suicide attempts. Notably, five of those attempts occurred in just the past one-year time frame. Yet every day that passed, his family endured a crushing fear. They thought that his life had reached a tipping point, particularly following a recent negative interaction with law enforcement.
In 2024, Tyran was arrested under the Mental Health Act and spent several months at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. That time came after Siege, a very painful year-long event. He punctured the window of a police cruiser during a mental health crisis only weeks prior to his death. As his family told us, this demonstrated a major crisis for Tyran—the complete opposite of his normal demeanor and behavior.
Tyran’s family wants the world to know that he had been trying to call for help. He’d even requested to be sectioned again earlier this year, but said that his requests fell on deaf ears. Tina Jones, his mother, is holding health professionals and adult social care teams to account. She calls their failure to meet her son’s basic needs “tragic.”
“I will never know if sectioning Tyran and giving him support would have helped him through it.” – Tina Jones
Tyran’s last days included two suicide attempts just two days apart. Unfortunately, even with these warning signs, he lost his battle on Mother’s Day. His death is an added tragedy as his family finds themselves at such an inflection point. In turn, they are now grappling with unimaginable grief.
National mental health advocacy organizations have also reacted to Tyran’s tragic death. A spokesperson for Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust extended their condolences, stating, “We would like to express our sympathy to Tyran’s family and friends as they deal with their loss.” The University Hospitals Birmingham, which transferred the patients, previously characterized the incident as “complex, tragic and very, very recent.” Justice for Tyran. They are committed to standing with Tyran’s family as they pursue answers.
“Clearly, this is a complex, sad, and extremely recent event,” – University Hospitals Birmingham
The family feels that Tyran’s cries for assistance were overlooked multiple times in the days before his death. Tina Jones described her experience in not receiving timely and appropriate intervention at her son’s most critical hours.
“I’ll never get the answer to that, because it never happened and I believe it should have happened.” – Tina Jones
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