NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tamatha Edwards tried to find help for her son Kenneth Beach on Wednesday morning when she said he had been showing signs of mania.
This tearful admission came about Thursday afternoon, as her son was getting booked into police custody for allegedly shooting and killing his best friend Wednesday night on McDaniel Street in North Nashville. Edwards said she took Beach to Centerstone Mental Health and Addiction Treatment for All on Wednesday morning.
"I don’t know what to feel because this all could’ve been stopped," she said, tears running down her face onto the collar of her pink shirt. "I took him yesterday to Centerstone I talked to (a woman), and she told him that he was manic. She said it. She looked him in his eye and told him, but instead of her making that phone call to Mobile Crisis to come and take him, she made him an appointment for today at 3:45 p.m."
Beach is accused of shooting Josue Riscar Chirino multiple times. Chirino died of his injuries. Beach is now charged with criminal homicide, and he has been in the court system before, most notably in 2004 when he tried to kill his girlfriend but was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was initially charged 19 years ago with attempted second-degree murder.
REPORTING ON BEACH: He was charged with killing his best friend 19 years after being found mentally unstable
While her son was undergoing booking, Edwards reached out to NewsChannel 5 about what had happened to her family. She said she didn't know what else to do. NewsChannel 5 has reached out to Centerstone about this circumstance, but we have not gotten any response.
His wife Carice Beach said she took her husband to Vanderbilt University Medical Center on Monday, who kept him overnight. Carice said she had been trying to find Beach help during the last three months.
Carice said her husband came and told her what happened after the shooting, but she wasn't sure if he was telling the truth because his mental state had been all across the board.
"I didn't think it was real because he had been manic," Carice said. "But then someone called and confirmed that it was true. Then I went to the scene, and I knew it was true."
Carice Beach and Edwards said they hoped sharing this story would help other people, as they now mourn the loss of Chirino and that their loved one is now in jail.
"I've done everything and more to get him some assistance," Carice said. "He was depressed and manic. He needed some medication to reverse the psychotic thoughts. Right now, he's aware (Chirino) is dead, but he thinks he will come back. He doesn't realize he is gone."
Following up on mental health reporting
This is not the only time that NewsChannel 5 has heard from families suffering with loved ones in need of mental health care. NewsChannel 5 Investigates talked back in May to a woman whose son burned down the family home with his father in it. He thought the scene was a movie, and he didn't realize he had killed his father as he watched the home burn down.
REPORTING FROM MAY: 'Please don't send him home!' Mom begs before mentally ill son killed his father
NewsChannel 5 Investigates has kept track on this issue through its Broken - Mental Health Crisis series. Through that reporting, we have found that dozens have been found incompetent to stand trial in Nashville, while one judge has sounded off that the whole system is broken.
JUDGE SOUNDS OFF: With Tennesseans committed dozens of times, mental health system is 'broken,' judge says
Two weeks ago, NewsChannel 5 covered the death of Jillian Ludwig, a Belmont University freshman who died after she was shot. Shaquille Taylor is now charged in connection to the shooting. He was previously found in 2023 that he was too incompetent to stand trial for a previous crime in 2021.
