Armed man 'failed by the system' before killed by Deer Park PD during political rant, family says

DEER PARK, Texas (KTRK) -- Two officers are on administrative leave, and a family is mourning following a shooting in Deer Park on Wednesday morning.

Officers with the Deer Park Police Department were called to the intersections of East Boulevard and East P Street after the man was reportedly seen screaming about political topics with knives in his hands and kicking cars at a stop light.

Deer Park police said they shot and killed the man because he reportedly charged at officers with knives.

Police said they gave multiple verbal commands and tased him before officers used deadly force.

RELATED: Deer Park police officers fatally shoot suspect who was allegedly approaching cars with knives

That man lived less than a mile from the intersection where he died.

Police have yet to identify the man killed, but his devastated family identified him as William Sparkman, a 23-year-old with paranoid schizophrenia.

The Sparkman family said they feel the system failed them on many levels.

"We needed the system to see it so he could get the treatment," the 23-year-old's father, David Sparkman, said. "We couldn't do it."

David Sparkman said his son was loved very much. He told ABC13 that his son was sick and needed help.

"We decided to be vocal on this matter, as vocal as we can be. The family made that decision openly with each other in hopes that it does help someone that needs help. We know there's no help here with us. For our son, it's too late. But hopefully, we can be at least a data point for some kind of change," David Sparkman said.

The Sparkman family feels officers could have done more to calm the man down from his episode.

"I'm sure there's a better way. There's a lot better way than what happened here," David Sparkman said.

More than 48 hours after the deadly shooting, police didn't provide any more clarity on how it unfolded.

"The system absolutely failed us," David Sparkman said.

He said two days before his son's death, they took him to a psychiatric hospital, but he was denied because the 23-year-old didn't want to accept care.

David Sparkman said that same night, they called Houston police crisis intervention for a welfare check.

They also said they couldn't do anything for William Sparkman, who was not being aggressive.

"If they see it, they don't have justification legally to intervene unless some type of event occurs like this," David Sparkman said.

ABC13 spent the Friday trying to get more details from Deer Park police, including their training protocol for mental health situations and de-escalation.

Eyewitness News had to make public records requests for the 911 calls, previous calls for service for William Sparkman, and dash cam video.

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