The fatal shooting of Andrew Kernan last night is a tragedy, says leading mental health charity Mind, and one that highlights serious concerns over the use of CS spray on people with mental health problems.

The charity is calling on the inquiry, to be conduced by the Police Complaints Authority, to address the use of CS spray on agitated people in mental distress, and to investigate the type of training provided to officers on how to deal with people with mental health problems to avoid similar fatal outcomes.

Mind also wants to stress that incidents like this one are still very rare, as the vast majority of people with mental health problems are not violent and do not pose a risk to others.

Mind has previously raised concerns over the use of CS spray on people with mental health problems, in particular:

• the physical effect of the interaction of CS spray with psychotropic drugs has not been investigated
• better training is needed for the police on how to deal with people with mental health problems
• the use of CS spray in people’s homes and in hospitals is an inappropriate form of restraint, particularly for sectioning under the Mental Health Act