July 29, 2025 • 15 mins
26 year old trans man Aaron Lynch was sometimes prone to mental health breakdowns. He was having one while alone in his family's home on July 7th, 2022. 911 was called and police arrived without a mental health professional. Aaron did not possess a gun or knife but police gunned him down anyway.
Intro: Shire Girl by David Fesilyan
Outro: Beating Heart by David Renda
Resources:
https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2024/06/family-of-man-shot-killed-by-fairfax-co-police-files-20-million-wrongful-death-suit/
https://www.hrc.org/news/hrc-honors-aaron-lynch-26-year-old-transgender-man-killed-in-virginia
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/virginia/no-charges-filed-officer-shoots-kills-man-responding-mental-health-crisis-fairfax-county/65-293fa8c3-040d-468d-939c-35f7765fff90
https://www.them.us/story/jasper-aaron-lynch-west-virginia-police-shooting
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/local/virginia-police-release-video-of-jasper-lynch-shooting/2022/08/04/68049662-a854-46dd-9d69-6e2f0393d782_video.html
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/beyond-the-rainbow-podcast--4398945/support.
Intro: Shire Girl by David Fesilyan
Outro: Beating Heart by David Renda
Resources:
https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2024/06/family-of-man-shot-killed-by-fairfax-co-police-files-20-million-wrongful-death-suit/
https://www.hrc.org/news/hrc-honors-aaron-lynch-26-year-old-transgender-man-killed-in-virginia
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/virginia/no-charges-filed-officer-shoots-kills-man-responding-mental-health-crisis-fairfax-county/65-293fa8c3-040d-468d-939c-35f7765fff90
https://www.them.us/story/jasper-aaron-lynch-west-virginia-police-shooting
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/local/virginia-police-release-video-of-jasper-lynch-shooting/2022/08/04/68049662-a854-46dd-9d69-6e2f0393d782_video.html
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/beyond-the-rainbow-podcast--4398945/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Dark Cast Network the best in indie podcasts. Check out
all of the great Darkcast shows at darkcastnetwork dot com.
Hey there, I'm Samantha and it's now time for Rainbow
Crimes and hopefully some Unicorn justice.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hello and welcome to Rainbow Crimes Flight eleven to McLean, Virginia.
I'm your flight attendant, Fabulosa. Please make sure your seats
are in an upright position, lock the trees in front
of you, and fasten your seat belts. Although this is
a short commuter trip, once we're settled in the air,
(00:54):
we will get a drink and snack cart out to
take your order as Olwey's thank you for flying Rainbow Crimes.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Hey, they're warriors. It's me CJ. How are some of
my favorite people in the world doing. I hope all
is well wherever you might be. I'm slowly starting to
pull out on my funk I think, I hope no way.
I haven't started a new project, but I'm getting a
little more sleep than I was. It's been helpful for
(01:25):
my mental health. I'm sure most of you have heard
of the term angry that refers to people who are
hungry and get easily angered. I would be tangry when
I'm tired. I get angry easy, but mostly I just
can't focus. Do any of you ever get angry or tangry?
I've been working hard to try to get my stuff
(01:47):
together and organize for the upcoming Pride in the Park
event in my city on August ninth. I had been
a little hesitant in doing this because I hadn't heard
back from the organizers, so I didn't even know if
I had to confirm spot yet. Finally I heard back
from them, and it was like a month after I
had signed up and paid for my spot. I had
(02:09):
even stopped into their offices a couple weeks ago to
try to get confirmation, only to be told that the
person in charge of the vendors was out for the
day and she'd get back to me. Well, she finally
got back to me just a few days ago, and
I'm confirmed in So now I've been shaking my group
to get shirts made and prepare for this event. It
(02:31):
doesn't look like I'm going camping with the kids anytime soon, though.
Their trip back East pooped them out, which bums me
out entirely. Oh well, this minisode's case that I have
for you today is a topic that we discussed in
other episodes. It's one I feel truly needs to be
addressed in our police forces everywhere, and that is how
(02:55):
they choose to handle someone having a mental crisis when
they're called on to the scene of a disturbance. Police
are supposed to prioritize safety and de escalation, and even
collaborate with mental health professionals when they're called upon for
help in a situation like this. So why don't they,
(03:16):
I ask? All too often they turn to the use
of deadly force when they get scared, and many times
they react impulsively, making the results of their actions deadly.
A twenty six year old trans man in McLean, Virginia,
had spent his lifetime struggling with mental health issues. His
(03:39):
name Jasper Aaron Lynch, he went by Erin. Aarin was
born as a twin to a sister named Tory. One day,
when the twins were three years old, they were at
a park with their nanny, playing on some rocks when
suddenly one of the twins yells, I'm a boy. Laughed,
(04:00):
thinking that the female assigned child was just being funny.
Years later, Aaron's family feels that Aarin was offering hints
about his true identity. Throughout his childhood, puberty, and young adulthood,
Aaron would struggle with gender dysphoria. As a young adult,
Erin began telling people he was transitioning and he would
(04:24):
like to be called by his new name of Jasper
Aaron Lynch, or simply Aerin. Aaron stood at five feet
five inches and weighed only about one hundred and forty pounds.
He wasn't a big man at all. Those closest to
him considered Erin to be exceptionally intelligent. He would use
(04:45):
logic to talk his way through nearly every argument. He
was a poet, a straight a student, and he made
friends very easily. But when people didn't recognize his gender
as being male, Erin would become very sad. He was
diagnosed with disassociative personality disorder. Experts say this can be
(05:09):
a condition brought on by trauma. It can cause a
person to have a disconnected sense of self and a
feeling that their external presence is not them but possibly
someone else. Some other aspects of the disorder includes multiple identities,
memory gaps, especially regarding personal information, detachment from their emotions
(05:34):
and actions, depression, anxiety and mood swings often accompany this disorder.
Erin had participated in a number of mental health programs
as well. He was seeing a therapist for his disorder.
He was trying to get help, Yet he occasionally would
have minor psychotic breaks, and these always seemed to be
(05:57):
spurned on when he was not being read recognized by
his preferred gender. Although he normally could manage to come
down from the psychotic break without any incident at all,
these psychotic breaks were because Erin felt very unseen by
those who didn't recognize he was a man. This would
be a great source of his trauma. On the evening
(06:20):
of July seventh, twenty twenty two, Erin was at his
home and he would experience another psychotic break. The episode
was so severe his friend, who was either with him
or on the phone with him, felt they should call
the police to help bring Aaron down. It's even possible
(06:41):
that the friend talked Erin into calling nine one one
for himself. This was indicated later by Aaron's family. When
the police first arrived and entered the home, they found
they couldn't find Aaron. On the premises. In their report,
they had a mental health expert on the scene with them,
but since they weren't able to find Erin, they just
(07:03):
left and then police returned a second time, only this
time the trained mental health professional was not with them.
The police did find Erin home, though Erin was holding
a decorative mask of some sorts in one hand and
in the other hand and in the other hand he
(07:23):
had a wine bottle. He initially threw the masks towards officers.
Police tried to verbal back and forth with Erin, but
they felt like they were getting nowhere, so when Erin
seemed to be getting somewhat more violent, they attempted to
taze Erin, but they were unsuccessful with that and the
(07:43):
actions by the police they were only escalating Aaron's anger
because with their attempts, Aaron decided he was going to
run at the police with the wine bottle in his hand,
and as he did this, one officer fired four shots
at him. Each bullet struck the young man, knocking him
to the floor. When Erin was able to stand up,
(08:05):
the officer shot Erin again point blank in his neck,
killing him. When I envisioned this scene, I'm reminded of
a wild animal that's being trapped by humans. The animal
is cornered and he gets more agitated, angry. Possibly it's
even going to jump into survival mode with the mindset
(08:28):
it's me or them. I think this is like the
fourth case I've covered where someone from the LGBTQ community
was murdered by police action when they got a call
that a person was suffering from a mental break, and
in each of those cases, the person having the mental
break ended up dead. All of the officers involved in
(08:50):
the incident with Erin were placed on restricted judy while
an investigation ensued. Two years after Erin was murdered at
the hands of lawn enforcement, all of the officers were
cleared of any wrongdoing, with their department standing behind them
saying the use of deadly force was justified. All of
(09:11):
those officers went back to work as usual, because of
course they did, while Erin no longer had a life
to go back to a job, to return to, or
to spend time with any loved ones, and his family
and friends no longer had Erin either. The police chief
(09:33):
insisted that all the officers in the county had received
more training, and while they only had one mental health
clinician that worked with the police, force at the time,
they were trying to add up to fifteen more. You know,
it's truly easy to say all that after the fact,
and after a tragedy had already occurred. As of twenty
(09:55):
twenty three, the Fairfax County Law Enforcement where McLean, Virginia is,
they now had three mental health professionals working with them,
which is too more than they previously had for Erin,
but it's also a dozen a way from what the
police chief's hopes were. Erin's family would release a statement
(10:15):
to the media that said, our son Erin was experiencing
a severe mental health crisis on July seventh. He was scared,
and he asked for both of the nine one one
calls that were made that day. We believed that the
three police officers who answered the second nine one one
call could have and should have handled this far differently.
(10:40):
To respond to Erin's mental health crisis by shooting him
at all, let alone multiple times, it cannot be justified.
We recognized that at times police officers face grave and
unknown dangers on the line of duty, but that was
not the case for this call at our home. Regarding
our son, Arin was of slight build and holding just
(11:03):
a bottle in a decorative mask. As parents, we mourn
the heartbreaking loss of our son and we are only
left with memories and regret. Had we known there was
any possibility that the police responding to the second nine
to one one call that they would use lethal force
against Erin during a mental health crisis, we would not
(11:26):
have involved them until a mental health counselor could be present,
as apparently was the case for the response in the
first nine one one call. We hope our efforts to
find out more about this incident will in the future
help families in similar situations avoid such a tragic outcome.
(11:47):
In the year twenty twenty two, which is when Erin
was murdered, over six hundred people died due to officer
involved shootings. Thoroughly devastated by the loss of their son, Aaron,
his parents filed a lawsuit for twenty million dollars against
the Fairfax County Police Department for use of excessive force.
(12:10):
I'm pretty sure that the civil suit is still wrapped
up in the courts, though. What I personally don't understand
is why police don't use rubber bullets when approaching a
call with someone possibly having a psychotic breakdown. Yes, rubber
bullets have the potential to kill someone or maim them
at point blank range, but the person being shot stands
(12:33):
a way better chance at survival with a rubber bullet
than with a metal one. As well, it seemed that
the police outnumbered Aaron at least three to one, if
not more. Aaron didn't have any lethal weapon with him.
He had a damn decorative mask, a mask that he
threw at officers, leaving him with only a wine bottle.
(12:55):
Why couldn't these cops have rushed him and tackled him
to subdue him. Why did they need to stand there
with their lethal pistols trained on them? And to me,
corruption and law enforcement is so apparent because the officer
who unloaded five bullets into Erin was cleared. What the
(13:16):
fuck is that about? Anyway? And police departments can talk
the talk all they want, but until people with mental
health issues stop being gunned down by police, and these
departments show that they're actually bringing qualified mental health specialists
with them, our citizens will continue to die by unjust
(13:38):
use of force. If one mental health specialist was there
to sit down and talk with Arin, validate him, make
him feel seen and heard, Erin most likely would still
be alive today. Rest and power Erin well, warriors. This conclude, dud,
(14:00):
it's our final MINIESOT for July. I love you when
you matter so much. Remember it's not a crime to
be gay or to live your fucking truth unless you're
a murderer.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
M at
Dark Cast Network the best in indie podcasts. Check out
all of the great Darkcast shows at darkcastnetwork dot com.
Hey there, I'm Samantha and it's now time for Rainbow
Crimes and hopefully some Unicorn justice.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hello and welcome to Rainbow Crimes Flight eleven to McLean, Virginia.
I'm your flight attendant, Fabulosa. Please make sure your seats
are in an upright position, lock the trees in front
of you, and fasten your seat belts. Although this is
a short commuter trip, once we're settled in the air,
(00:54):
we will get a drink and snack cart out to
take your order as Olwey's thank you for flying Rainbow Crimes.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Hey, they're warriors. It's me CJ. How are some of
my favorite people in the world doing. I hope all
is well wherever you might be. I'm slowly starting to
pull out on my funk I think, I hope no way.
I haven't started a new project, but I'm getting a
little more sleep than I was. It's been helpful for
(01:25):
my mental health. I'm sure most of you have heard
of the term angry that refers to people who are
hungry and get easily angered. I would be tangry when
I'm tired. I get angry easy, but mostly I just
can't focus. Do any of you ever get angry or tangry?
I've been working hard to try to get my stuff
(01:47):
together and organize for the upcoming Pride in the Park
event in my city on August ninth. I had been
a little hesitant in doing this because I hadn't heard
back from the organizers, so I didn't even know if
I had to confirm spot yet. Finally I heard back
from them, and it was like a month after I
had signed up and paid for my spot. I had
(02:09):
even stopped into their offices a couple weeks ago to
try to get confirmation, only to be told that the
person in charge of the vendors was out for the
day and she'd get back to me. Well, she finally
got back to me just a few days ago, and
I'm confirmed in So now I've been shaking my group
to get shirts made and prepare for this event. It
(02:31):
doesn't look like I'm going camping with the kids anytime soon, though.
Their trip back East pooped them out, which bums me
out entirely. Oh well, this minisode's case that I have
for you today is a topic that we discussed in
other episodes. It's one I feel truly needs to be
addressed in our police forces everywhere, and that is how
(02:55):
they choose to handle someone having a mental crisis when
they're called on to the scene of a disturbance. Police
are supposed to prioritize safety and de escalation, and even
collaborate with mental health professionals when they're called upon for
help in a situation like this. So why don't they,
(03:16):
I ask? All too often they turn to the use
of deadly force when they get scared, and many times
they react impulsively, making the results of their actions deadly.
A twenty six year old trans man in McLean, Virginia,
had spent his lifetime struggling with mental health issues. His
(03:39):
name Jasper Aaron Lynch, he went by Erin. Aarin was
born as a twin to a sister named Tory. One day,
when the twins were three years old, they were at
a park with their nanny, playing on some rocks when
suddenly one of the twins yells, I'm a boy. Laughed,
(04:00):
thinking that the female assigned child was just being funny.
Years later, Aaron's family feels that Aarin was offering hints
about his true identity. Throughout his childhood, puberty, and young adulthood,
Aaron would struggle with gender dysphoria. As a young adult,
Erin began telling people he was transitioning and he would
(04:24):
like to be called by his new name of Jasper
Aaron Lynch, or simply Aerin. Aaron stood at five feet
five inches and weighed only about one hundred and forty pounds.
He wasn't a big man at all. Those closest to
him considered Erin to be exceptionally intelligent. He would use
(04:45):
logic to talk his way through nearly every argument. He
was a poet, a straight a student, and he made
friends very easily. But when people didn't recognize his gender
as being male, Erin would become very sad. He was
diagnosed with disassociative personality disorder. Experts say this can be
(05:09):
a condition brought on by trauma. It can cause a
person to have a disconnected sense of self and a
feeling that their external presence is not them but possibly
someone else. Some other aspects of the disorder includes multiple identities,
memory gaps, especially regarding personal information, detachment from their emotions
(05:34):
and actions, depression, anxiety and mood swings often accompany this disorder.
Erin had participated in a number of mental health programs
as well. He was seeing a therapist for his disorder.
He was trying to get help, Yet he occasionally would
have minor psychotic breaks, and these always seemed to be
(05:57):
spurned on when he was not being read recognized by
his preferred gender. Although he normally could manage to come
down from the psychotic break without any incident at all,
these psychotic breaks were because Erin felt very unseen by
those who didn't recognize he was a man. This would
be a great source of his trauma. On the evening
(06:20):
of July seventh, twenty twenty two, Erin was at his
home and he would experience another psychotic break. The episode
was so severe his friend, who was either with him
or on the phone with him, felt they should call
the police to help bring Aaron down. It's even possible
(06:41):
that the friend talked Erin into calling nine one one
for himself. This was indicated later by Aaron's family. When
the police first arrived and entered the home, they found
they couldn't find Aaron. On the premises. In their report,
they had a mental health expert on the scene with them,
but since they weren't able to find Erin, they just
(07:03):
left and then police returned a second time, only this
time the trained mental health professional was not with them.
The police did find Erin home, though Erin was holding
a decorative mask of some sorts in one hand and
in the other hand and in the other hand he
(07:23):
had a wine bottle. He initially threw the masks towards officers.
Police tried to verbal back and forth with Erin, but
they felt like they were getting nowhere, so when Erin
seemed to be getting somewhat more violent, they attempted to
taze Erin, but they were unsuccessful with that and the
(07:43):
actions by the police they were only escalating Aaron's anger
because with their attempts, Aaron decided he was going to
run at the police with the wine bottle in his hand,
and as he did this, one officer fired four shots
at him. Each bullet struck the young man, knocking him
to the floor. When Erin was able to stand up,
(08:05):
the officer shot Erin again point blank in his neck,
killing him. When I envisioned this scene, I'm reminded of
a wild animal that's being trapped by humans. The animal
is cornered and he gets more agitated, angry. Possibly it's
even going to jump into survival mode with the mindset
(08:28):
it's me or them. I think this is like the
fourth case I've covered where someone from the LGBTQ community
was murdered by police action when they got a call
that a person was suffering from a mental break, and
in each of those cases, the person having the mental
break ended up dead. All of the officers involved in
(08:50):
the incident with Erin were placed on restricted judy while
an investigation ensued. Two years after Erin was murdered at
the hands of lawn enforcement, all of the officers were
cleared of any wrongdoing, with their department standing behind them
saying the use of deadly force was justified. All of
(09:11):
those officers went back to work as usual, because of
course they did, while Erin no longer had a life
to go back to a job, to return to, or
to spend time with any loved ones, and his family
and friends no longer had Erin either. The police chief
(09:33):
insisted that all the officers in the county had received
more training, and while they only had one mental health
clinician that worked with the police, force at the time,
they were trying to add up to fifteen more. You know,
it's truly easy to say all that after the fact,
and after a tragedy had already occurred. As of twenty
(09:55):
twenty three, the Fairfax County Law Enforcement where McLean, Virginia is,
they now had three mental health professionals working with them,
which is too more than they previously had for Erin,
but it's also a dozen a way from what the
police chief's hopes were. Erin's family would release a statement
(10:15):
to the media that said, our son Erin was experiencing
a severe mental health crisis on July seventh. He was scared,
and he asked for both of the nine one one
calls that were made that day. We believed that the
three police officers who answered the second nine one one
call could have and should have handled this far differently.
(10:40):
To respond to Erin's mental health crisis by shooting him
at all, let alone multiple times, it cannot be justified.
We recognized that at times police officers face grave and
unknown dangers on the line of duty, but that was
not the case for this call at our home. Regarding
our son, Arin was of slight build and holding just
(11:03):
a bottle in a decorative mask. As parents, we mourn
the heartbreaking loss of our son and we are only
left with memories and regret. Had we known there was
any possibility that the police responding to the second nine
to one one call that they would use lethal force
against Erin during a mental health crisis, we would not
(11:26):
have involved them until a mental health counselor could be present,
as apparently was the case for the response in the
first nine one one call. We hope our efforts to
find out more about this incident will in the future
help families in similar situations avoid such a tragic outcome.
(11:47):
In the year twenty twenty two, which is when Erin
was murdered, over six hundred people died due to officer
involved shootings. Thoroughly devastated by the loss of their son, Aaron,
his parents filed a lawsuit for twenty million dollars against
the Fairfax County Police Department for use of excessive force.
(12:10):
I'm pretty sure that the civil suit is still wrapped
up in the courts, though. What I personally don't understand
is why police don't use rubber bullets when approaching a
call with someone possibly having a psychotic breakdown. Yes, rubber
bullets have the potential to kill someone or maim them
at point blank range, but the person being shot stands
(12:33):
a way better chance at survival with a rubber bullet
than with a metal one. As well, it seemed that
the police outnumbered Aaron at least three to one, if
not more. Aaron didn't have any lethal weapon with him.
He had a damn decorative mask, a mask that he
threw at officers, leaving him with only a wine bottle.
(12:55):
Why couldn't these cops have rushed him and tackled him
to subdue him. Why did they need to stand there
with their lethal pistols trained on them? And to me,
corruption and law enforcement is so apparent because the officer
who unloaded five bullets into Erin was cleared. What the
(13:16):
fuck is that about? Anyway? And police departments can talk
the talk all they want, but until people with mental
health issues stop being gunned down by police, and these
departments show that they're actually bringing qualified mental health specialists
with them, our citizens will continue to die by unjust
(13:38):
use of force. If one mental health specialist was there
to sit down and talk with Arin, validate him, make
him feel seen and heard, Erin most likely would still
be alive today. Rest and power Erin well, warriors. This conclude, dud,
(14:00):
it's our final MINIESOT for July. I love you when
you matter so much. Remember it's not a crime to
be gay or to live your fucking truth unless you're
a murderer.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
M at
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