by Steve Moran

This past Sunday morning at around 8:45 a.m., December 1, 2024, a mentally ill man wielding a chainsaw that was not running walked into the lobby of River Glen of Saint Charles. Once inside the building, he confronted residents with his chainsaw, and at least one resident, a veteran who put himself in harm’s way in order to protect others, was very slightly injured.

Police were called, and after trying to deescalate his behavior by talking to him, they tased him, which had no effect, leaving the police with no alternative than the use of lethal force.

The 41-year-old man had a long history of violence and a long arrest record. He had no known connection with the senior living community.

A couple of news articles:

Can’t Plan for Everything

I talked to Meg Harper, director of marketing for the Jaybird Senior Living, which manages the community, about the incident, and she referred me to a LinkedIn post by Jaybird president Justin Wray, where he had this to say:

One of my greatest fears as an operator is the thought of our residents or team members being in harm’s way. Unfortunately, this past weekend, one of our communities faced such a situation in the assisted living section of their community, and I felt compelled to share the email I sent across our organization.

You can read the rest of his post here.

Part of what makes senior living such an exciting and dynamic business to be in is that we have this awe-inspiring, sacred trust to create amazing experiences for residents and their families while keeping them safe and caring for physical and mental needs.

We create plans, we think about contingencies, so that when something extraordinary happens, we are ready. Yet a case like this would be impossible to predict, impossible to plan for. It is the kind of thing you would expect someone to make up as an extreme training exercise.

And yet we have leaders like those at Jaybird and River Glen who rise to the occasion and take care of business during during an event like this, protecting residents and team members.

December 3, 2:20 p.m.: Updated with information from Jaybird Senior Living.