Stein shares personal connection with Ravenscroft teacher

Gov. Josh Stein's comments come days after Zoe Welsh, a long-time science teacher at the private Ravenscroft School, was killed in her home. Ryan Camacho, who is charged in her death, had a history of mental health challenges, according to court records.
Posted 1/6/2026, 4:40:45 PM Updated 1/6/2026, 5:00:10 PM

Uh just absolutely heartbreaking news about Zoe Welsh just heartbreaking

Uh I have friends whose students were uh whose children

were students of hers and said she was a remarkable

teacher um and

She shouldn't she shouldn't be dead she should be alive

she should be in school teaching today uh so it's

heartbreaking that she's not

We have to do a better job with this intersection

between folks out there who are paranoid they're delusional who

can pose risks

Obviously not everybody with mental health challenges are a violent

risk but there are some who are

And we are not doing a good enough job treating

those folks

There are initiatives out there

There are these behavioral health urgent care centers BHGs that

the state is now setting up which would be very

helpful so that if somebody's having a mental health crisis

24/7 they have a place to go that's not the

emergency department because that's not the right place

Jail is not the right place

We need to treat folks so there's more we can

do uh in that regard

I I signed Arena's law

It is to trying to get more people who are

at risk uh who who pose mental health challenges to

have uh evaluations so that we have professionals mental health

professionals evaluating what's in the best interest of this person

to help them deal with whatever issues they're facing that's

right for the person but then it helps make all

of us safer

There's a lot more we can do

Uh I had ideas that the legislature did not incorporate

Into Arena's law I hope that they do

They are studying the involuntary commitment process and I endorse

that

We need to figure out what we can do to

make that process better

Um I have an entire public safety package

Uh I talked about the legislature

They've not passed a budget

We're the only state in the country that doesn't have

a budget

I had about $200 million in specialized particularized initiatives to

help make people safer

We need a budget that invests in public safety and

I will continue to urge the legislature to do their

job

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