‘A tormented life’: Father mourns son, calls for mental health reform

Morton Kahn, the father of Daniel Kahn — the stabbing suspect who was killed by a Springfield police officer Wednesday, July 30 — wrote a statement apologizing to the officers involved and outlining the mental health problems his son suffered. He said his son’s death was “inevitable.”

The statement, parts of which first appeared in The Oregonian, was sent to Lookout Eugene-Springfield by a relative.

In the statement, Kahn first apologizes to the two Springfield officers who were stabbed: “I am SO VERY sorry that this happened to you and I am extremely grateful that you are both back at home recuperating. Thank you for putting yourself out there to protect all of us. You are truly heroes!”

Kahn then addresses the Springfield officer who shot Daniel Kahn:

“I am truly sorry you were put in the position to end my son’s life. My sincere hope is that you mend and get the appropriate counseling you need to move on and return to work safeguarding the citizens in Springfield, Oregon. You likely saved an innocent life sometime into the future. I send you a warm forgiving embrace with tears in my eyes and ask that you please heal quickly.”

Much of the rest of Kahn’s statement outlines the mental health struggles he said his son suffered.

“At some point over the last 10 years, it became evident to all of Daniel’s immediate and surrounding family members that he could potentially be a dangerous individual,” Kahn wrote. “On several occasions in speaking with brothers and sisters, I mentioned that one day I will receive a phone call that my son has been killed or was found dead. That day came at 10:15 p.m. on July 31, 2025 when a local police officer notified me of what had happened and that my son was dead.”

Daniel Kahn was born Aug. 21, 1986 in Houston. “As a young boy he was so energetic and fun to be with,” his father wrote. Daniel’s mother died in the early 2000s and showed signs of mental illness in the last years of her life.

Shortly after his mother died, Daniel also began to show symptoms of mental illness, his father said. “As the years moved on, it became evident to Daniel’s immediate family members that he had some significant issues and he was counseled by every member of our family to seek help,” Morton Kahn wrote.

“Countless times over the last 25 years members of our family guided and assisted Daniel to check himself into various mental hospitals where he could be assessed and appropriately medicated and guided by trained mental health experts. The issue is, at least for our family’s observation, is that all of these facilities that actually helped Daniel were on a completely voluntary basis. There appeared to be no mechanism in place that allowed the state government here in Texas or anywhere else that Daniel visited to forcibly hold him for the help he needed.

“Not being a mental health expert, my observation with my son Daniel was that when he was on his prescribed medications and obtaining counseling guidance and psychiatric assistance Daniel would feel like he was able to jet off somewhere away from all the help and assistance. Once he removed himself from the various facilities that he checked himself into and lost access to his medication, counseling and guidance, he would become homeless and revert back to all of his uncontrolled mental conditions.”

“In the end,” Morton Kahn said, “Daniel became a potentially very violent person,” and served a year in jail in Texas. “What is amazing is that although he was in jail for hurting somebody very badly, the system and the courts let him out early because they could not handle Daniel‘s mental health or medical needs.”

Kahn said his son traveled to Oregon because he had been told to “go to a state that had well-developed mental health facilities and a process where he could enter into a system that could potentially give him sustained help and keep him from being homeless and constantly hungry.”

Kahn finished his statement with a call for reform in the nation’s mental health system:

“What happened on July 30, 2025 was in my mind inevitable. Our national and statewide mental health facilities and processes that mostly only involve a person‘s voluntary decision to seek mental health help … caused this horrible event for all involved.

“States and the federal government need to find a way to diagnose people with serious mental health conditions, and involuntarily hold them in order to give them the assistance that is required for their illnesses AND to protect the public.

“Rest now my son as your tormented life has passed and you are with God and your mother, Teresa. I can’t imagine how horrible of a life you had to live daily.”