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Two Sons, One Systemic Tragedy

I have to grieve two sons, separately and differently.

Mother, Jante Keohohou on KTLA 5 News via Youtube

These words, spoken by Jante Keohohou, the mother of Zayde “Buggy” Keohohou and Zuberi Sharp, are the most devastating indictment of the American mental health system you will ever hear.

Zayde “Buggy” Keohohou: An Example of Resilience

The life of Zayde, a 15-year-old boy with cerebral palsy who navigated the world in a wheelchair, was tragically cut short. Zayde was the resilient, loving center of his family, known for defying the odds of his disability. Doctors gave him a life expectancy of just three years after his birth, but he lived for 15, filling his home with “aloha.” He enjoyed playing the drums, and was a great drummer, drumming with the Rhythm Arts program music therapy organization. (Moorpark Acorn)

Zayde’s Life Was Cut Short Because The System Wasn’t Listening

The person who allegedly took that life was his own half-brother, Zuberi, who the family has confirmed was in the throes of a severe, public, and untreated psychiatric crisis. His mother’s plea was clear: Zuberi “didn’t know what he was doing.” (Thousand Oaks Acorn) Zuberi, who was suffering from seemingly untreated psychiatric disorder(s), sadly took Zayde’s life with an axe to his head.

This is where the criminal narrative ends, and the systemic indictment begins. The family, actively trying to secure help for their son, Zuberi, was met with a system designed to fail them at every turn.

The System Is the Guilty Party

This investigation into the tragedy of Zayde’s death is not solely focused on his passing, but rather how this tragedy—a mother losing not one but two sons—could have been easily prevented. This blog post will be a little bit different from other entries I have delved into. This story aims to shed light on Mental Health and easy access to it, so accidents like this will never happen again. This investigation will not aim at a specific individual as the guilty party; instead, it targets an entire system that is broken. 

Zayde’s mother, Jante Keohohou, had already desperately begged the system for mental health treatment for her older son, Zuberi. (Thousand Oaks Acorn) Unfortunately, the institutions that were legally and physically mandated to provide care were incapable of doing so, effectively turning a blind eye to a severe psychiatric crisis that tragically escalated into irreversible violence.

Hours Before the Murder: Zuberi was Rescued from a Storm Drain

Hours before Zayde’s tragic murder, a critical warning was tragically ignored. Around 1:00 p.m. on December 5th, 2024, Emergency Services were called to rescue a man stuck in a storm drain at “the intersection of Borchard and Reino roads, about a half mile from the scene of the killing.” (LA Times) That man was Zuberi Sharp, Zayde’s older brother. EMS transported Zuberi to the hospital for assessment. His condition—a grown man rescued from a storm drain—was a textbook example of being “gravely disabled,” one of the three criteria for an involuntary 72-hour hold under California’s 5150 Mental Health law. However, staff allegedly found no physical injuries and, crucially, deemed that Zuberi was not showing immediate danger to himself or others during his evaluation. Because of this rigid interpretation of the 5150 law and the likely lack of available secure psychiatric beds, he was discharged, turning a documented mental health crisis into a countdown to tragedy.

The Vulnerable Victim in the Crumbling System

As a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy myself, the ultimate tragedy of Zayde’s final moments resonates with a fear I understand completely. I could not imagine the terror that Zayde must have felt: the physical inability to flee, the struggle to scream out for help, and the devastating realization that the person coming to harm you is a loved one. Knowing someone—a family member who is supposed to love you—is coming at you to harm you must have been terrifying, especially for a young man who may not have been fully aware of the psychiatric crisis his older brother was facing.

When your safety, mobility, and fundamental well-being are dependent on the stability of your caregivers and the integrity of the system around you, any failure becomes an existential threat. The thought of being in your own sanctuary—your home—and being utterly unable to defend yourself against a collapse of care is the nightmare of every person with a significant physical disability. Zayde was not just a victim of a crime; he was a victim of an environment made instantly lethal by systemic negligence.

Zayde Keohohou’s life story, as his mother attested, was one of resilience. Living far past his original prognosis, Zayde navigated the world in a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy. But resilience, in the face of physical disability, is inextricably linked to dependence and care. Zayde relied heavily on his family and his home environment for his safety, comfort, and mobility.

When the system failed Zuberi Sharp, it wasn’t just a failure to treat a psychiatric patient; it was a failure to protect the most vulnerable person in that entire family equation. Zayde’s cerebral palsy and mobility limitations meant he could not flee, could not physically defend himself, and could not seek help when his environment—his own home—turned dangerous. The system’s negligence in applying the 5150 law and securing a hospital bed for Zuberi translated directly into a life-threatening risk for Zayde.

For those familiar with the 5150 law, it is generally viewed as the primary safeguard for an individual experiencing a psychiatric crisis. But this tragedy forces us to ask: What non-psychiatric standard of “reasonable human behavior” was the hospital applying? No rational adult becomes trapped in a storm drain. The fact that EMS had to extricate him proved beyond any doubt that he was “gravely disabled.” Yet, they discharged him. Had the law allowed paramedics to make the 5150 call, recognizing by a reasonable person’s standard that Zuberi should not have been stuck in that storm drain, a 72-hour psychiatric hold could have been initiated. But because the law is currently so rigid, the paramedics were legally unable to do so, meaning this entire tragedy could have been prevented.

This tragedy forces us to acknowledge that failing mental health infrastructure is not just a public health crisis; it is a disability safety crisis. The American mental health system, by letting a gravely disabled man walk free, essentially placed an axe into the hands of a person with an active psychiatric disorder, pointed it at a disabled child who could not move, and walked away.

The Legal Aftermath and Accountability

Following the attack, Zuberi Sharp was apprehended at nearby Newbury Park High School, nude and on the football field, a haunting final display of his untreated psychiatric crisis. He was subsequently charged with murder and corporal injury to a child, along with special allegations that underscore the victim’s vulnerability and the use of a deadly weapon.

Initially, criminal proceedings were suspended pending a mental competency hearing. However, the system has delivered its latest verdict: Zuberi Sharp was found competent to stand trial in July 2025. This ruling means the state has determined he now understands the charges against him and can assist in his own defense. Crucially, while this decision moves the case toward a criminal trial, it does not settle the question of his mental state or culpability at the moment of Zayde’s death. The indictment remains: the system’s response to Zuberi’s severe mental health crisis was not intervention and treatment, but prosecution, funneling a profoundly ill man into the criminal justice system—the very outcome the family desperately tried to prevent.

The charges include the special allegation that the victim (Zayde) was vulnerable, a necessary legal classification that highlights the very fact that his cerebral palsy and immobility were exploited by the system’s failure. 

The Eerie Shadow of Prior Family Violence

The tragedy of the Sharp-Keohohou family is sadly compounded by a prior history of violence and mental health crisis. Zuberi Sharp is reportedly the son of convicted murderer, Calvin Sharp. (People v. Calvin Sharp)  In 2007, the elder Sharp was convicted of brutally killing a six-year-old boy with a meat cleaver, and seriously injuring the boy’s mother and a neighbor during the attack. He was ultimately sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. While this information has no bearing on Zuberi’s culpability or Zayde’s tragedy, its presence in public reporting serves as a grim echo of the need for effective, lifelong mental health intervention that this family, across two generations, never received.

 When a Mother’s Sorrow Demands a Call to Action

While the legal system now focuses on punishment and competency, the mother, Jante Keohohou, has already delivered the true verdict: she has been forced to grieve two sons. Her sorrow has become an unintended call to action, demanding that California’s mental health laws and resources be reformed.

The Call for Reform: From 5150 to Safety

This tragedy must serve as more than just a heartbreaking case study; it must be a catalyst for change. The system that failed Zayde and Zuberi is not unique to Ventura County—it is a mirror reflecting the broken mental health infrastructure across the nation. For every person with a physical disability who relies on a family member for care, the rigidity of the 5150 law and the chronic lack of secure psychiatric beds remain an unacceptable safety risk.

The changes we must demand are clear:

• Expand 5150 Authorization to Front-Line EMS: Currently, paramedics cannot initiate a 5150 hold. This law must be amended to allow paramedic captains or designated high-level EMS professionals to initiate a hold in situations where a person exhibits behavior that no reasonable, non-psychotic individual would attempt (like becoming trapped in a storm drain). First responders cannot be forced to watch a crisis unfold and then lack the legal authority to intervene.
• Re-evaluating “Gravely Disabled”: The criteria must be expanded to legally require consideration of recent, documented behavior (like the storm drain incident) rather than relying solely on the patient’s presentation at the moment of evaluation in a safe, controlled hospital room.
• Mandatory Capacity: Every county must be legally mandated to maintain a specific number of fully staffed, secure psychiatric beds to ensure that no individual meeting the criteria for a hold is discharged simply due to a lack of space. A bed must be found, even if it requires an inter-county transfer.
• Disability-Specific Safety: Crisis intervention training for hospital staff and law enforcement must explicitly address the increased vulnerability of disabled family members when a caregiver is undergoing a psychiatric emergency.

We cannot accept a system where the difference between life and death is whether a psychiatric bed is empty or full.

Conclusion: Never Grieve Two Sons Again

Zayde “Buggy” Keohohou, the resilient drummer who lived on “aloha,” deserved a life protected by the very institutions we fund to ensure public safety. His death, by an axe wielded by a mentally ill brother who the system consciously chose to release, was not a tragic accident of fate—it was a preventable system failure.

Jante Keohohou said, “I have to grieve two sons, separately and differently.” Her words are not just an expression of grief; they are a profound warning. They tell us that until we reform the restrictive laws and eliminate the resource deficits that turn a mental health crisis into a disability safety crisis, the system will continue to have blood on its hands. It is up to us, advocates and concerned citizens, to ensure Zayde’s voice, and the voices of all vulnerable people, are heard so that no other family ever has to bear this unimaginable double loss.

Until next time, be wise, stay safe, support  and love one another!

 ~Jennifer AKA Wheelchair Detective 💚

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