A vigil held at Pleasant Valley Assembly of God in Brodheadsville Thursday night honored Christian Hall, who was shot and killed by police one year ago, but it also shed light on the problem of getting good mental health care.

“I knew my son was struggling and I tried to get him get an appointment but because he had turned 18, I could not make the appointment. I am his mother and I couldn’t even help him,” said Fe Hall.

Hall, 19, who had been diagnosed with depression, was standing on the ledge of a highway overpass near Stroudsburg when troopers arrived. They tried to persuade him to get down, but when they saw he had a gun - later determined to be a realistic pellet gun - they backed away.

Videos show that Hall’s hands were still in the air, the gun in one hand, as two troopers fired another series of shots and he crumpled to the ground.

The fatal shooting drew protests from activists who questioned why state police had opened fire on a teenager who appeared to be suicidal and needed help.

Thursday night, the Hall family asked everyone at the vigil to please call attention to the lack of mental health care for people struggling.

“He was always smiling but inside his heart was breaking,” his mother said.

“We grew up in the church together,” said Daniel Vence, his best friend. “I just wanted to share some good memories. Because, you know, it’s really hard to process. It’s been a long year, and I’ve had a lot of time to reflect.”

Vence said, “One of the farthest back memories I have is, we were in Sunday school, and Christian was sitting next to me. We weren’t really like close friends at the time. But I remember he just looked at me. He was like, ‘Hey, do you see Thor movie?’?”

They went and they became best friends.

One time he said they were going to pick apples and talking all the way about what they were going to make.

“I really will always cherish that time and those moments that I had with him, because he was like a brother to me, you know. And he always cared about people, like, everybody before me said he really put everybody before himself. And he was very intentional about people. He was always loving,” Vence said.

“And he was always laughing and he always had a lot of energy. He was always jumping around and doing something. But yeah, I just really will always cherish those memories,” Vence said.