License to Kill: In a Small Town on Cape Cod

All too often, people who need help wind up falling through the cracks, and their struggles with mental illness end in tragedy. This was the sad fate of David G. Hill, who was twenty-three when he was killed by a police officer’s bullets.

David was suffering from depression when he died. Early in school, he had dealt with a learning disability and bullying, experiences that profoundly affected him. His mental health treatment and encounters with law enforcement soon began, but nobody seemed to know how to handle a young adult with mental illness. His father, author Gerard B. Hill, did everything possible to help his beloved son.

After David’s tragic death, his family was left with so many questions. How exactly did this happen? Could they have done anything to prevent the shooting? And was David really at fault? In License to Kill, Gerard reviews the last day of David’s life, minute by minute, until that final, fateful encounter.

Police departments across the United States lack proper crisis-intervention teams. This can lead to escalating situations like David’s. This young man was a son, a patient, and a human being. He deserved better, and his family deserves answers.

Gerard B. Hill, a resident of North Eastham, Massachusetts, has spent his career in a number of industries. He currently runs the Box Lunch Restaurant, which he purchased in 1997.

Hill attended Merrimack College and graduated with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1964. He worked in the laser industry in Boston at Maser Optics and Laser Nucleonics at a time when the new technology was cutting edge and wrote numerous technical manuals for sophisticated laser systems. Subsequently, he was a partner at Atlantic Well Drilling Co., where he designed commercial geothermal heating and air-conditioning systems.

Gerard has three daughters and one surviving son, as well as seven grandchildren. One of his major interests is designing high-performance vehicles and engines for autocross racing.