CALCUTTA — As details begin to come into focus of last week’s shootout between police and a suicidal man that left four-year-old Rosalie Martin dead and St. Clair Township Police Officer Dakota Wetzel critically injured, Martin’s mother is calling for immediate changes that could have prevented Wednesday’s tragedy.

Jennifer Martin created two petitions on change.org asking for changes to the system that she believes failed her daughter. The first demands mandates free universal mental health care and enhanced preventive measures. The second asks that bulletproof glass and staff safety training be installed in all child care institutions.

“My daughter’s life was taken by a man with mental health issues, roaming our streets with a gun,” Martin wrote. “This atrocity has put the spotlight on the fundamental flaws in our approach to mental health care and safety measures.”

The shooter, 30-year-old Joseph Como, had a long history of mental health crises before he opened fire on police who were called to the St. Clair Avenue and state Route 170 area in Calcutta after receiving reports of suicidal man. Como was shot by police and later pronounced dead but not before shooting Wetzel in the head and not before Rosalie was killed in front of her siblings by a stray bullet that pierced a window as she sat in the Dentistry for Children and Teens office across the street from where officers made initial contact with Como.

Martin said that “everyone, regardless of their insurance status, should have access to free mental health care, including all necessary medications and medical care” and went on cite a National Institute of Mental Health study that found that 19.1% of U.S. adults suffer from mental illnesses and that many of them cannot afford treatment due to high costs.

While it is not known if Como was prevented from receiving needed mental health care due to financial reasons, his history of mental health crises is known. According to a Dec. 28 Wellsville Police Department report, Como was a diagnosed schizophrenic who had stopped taking his medicine months prior. Officers were dispatched to the 1200 block of Center Street, where he resided, after Erica Como called to report her son had pushed her while she and her father were delivering groceries to his apartment. She alleged Como assaulted the couple and, when they later locked themselves inside their vehicle for safety, Como brandished a knife near the front door. Officers were unable to make contact with Como at the scene and an on-call prosecutor advised the officers against entering the residence and to instead issue a warrant on a charge of domestic violence. That warrant was never served.

Martin’s petition asks for proactive protocols when it comes to obvious mental health episodes — like the one Como reportedly had on Dec. 28 — to protect both the patient and public.

“Another critical aspect of this petition is the need for comprehensive monitoring of individuals hospitalized due to suicidal thoughts or intentions of causing harm to others,” Martin wrote. “This monitoring must be carried out for extended periods, even after their release.”

Como underwent court-ordered hospitalization in 2015 following forensic sanity and competency evaluations ordered by former East Liverpool Municipal Court Judge Melissa Byers-Emmerling following his arrest for inducing panic, obstructing official business and aggravated menacing and after Como had professed to be a prophet and savior. Como spent two months in Heartland Behavioral Health in Massillon before being ruled competent, fined $200 plus costs and sentenced to 180 days in jail with 94 suspended. He eventually was transferred to unsupervised probation on Oct. 5, 2017, according to Columbiana County’s online case docket.

The 2015 charges came after police received calls that Como had threatened self harm with a gun. Police tracked Como to the Calcutta Sheetz before chasing him to a nearby funeral home — ironically steps away from the very spot Como was shot and killed Wednesday. During the 2015 incident, Como stood in the street threatening to shoot himself and telling officers they would have to ‘cut (him) down’ in order to take him into custody, causing activities at three nearby churches, a children’s gymnastics studio and day care had to be locked down. A loaded handgun with the hammer cocked was later located in a parking lot across the street.

It is unclear where Como obtained the gun in 2015 or the one used in Wednesday’s shootout. What is clear, according to the petition, is that Como should not have had access to a firearm.

“Stricter precautions must be enacted to ensure such individuals with mental health issues are kept away from the general public and, importantly, all weapons,” Martin wrote. “The combination of an untreated mental illness and access to firearms can lead to tragic outcomes, as demonstrated in my personal story.”

Martin called Wednesday’s shooting a senseless act of violence that turned her life upside down when advocating for the bulletproof glass to be installed in facilities that serve children.

“It is essential to make it mandatory for all child care facilities — including schools, daycares, and head starts — to install bulletproof glass, implement metal detectors, and ensure premises are well-guarded,” she wrote.

Martin also called for the staff of those child care facilities to be required to “have solid first aid training and the ability to handle any crisis situation adeptly”, stressing that “every minute counts.”

Martin’s petition notes statistics from the Gun Violence Archive that reported 41,480 incidents involving gun violence in the United States, causing 43,544 deaths, including 293 in schools in 2020 alone.

“Such data cannot be overlooked,” she wrote.

Gun violence remains the leading cause of death for children and adolescents. As of Jan. 25, 70 children in the United States have already died due to gun violence in 2025.

“My daughter was innocently waiting at a dentist office when she was fatally shot,” Martin wrote. “It was an incident that could have been prevented if there had been additional safety measures in place. I plead with you today so that such a tragedy won’t visit another family.”

Rosalie’s private burial will be handled by Everhart-Bove Funeral Homes in Wintersville. Rosalie’s grandmother Brenda Carey called her a “sweet, beautiful, funny little girl,” on the funeral home’s memorial page.

“She loved singing and was so excited to get a new dress and new shoes and loved pulling pranks on everyone. She had the best sense of humor,” Carey wrote. “I miss hearing her singing and laughing. We all love her so much. She is going to be so missed. Life just got a lot more unbearable without her.”

A gofundme set up to benefit Rosalie’s family as they navigate the unimaginable has neared $50,000.

If you or someone you know experiences a mental health crisis, call the suicide and crisis lifeline at 988, text “4hope” (741741) or visit 988lifeline.org.

(Staff writer Stephanie Ujhelyi contributed to this story).