California police say they had no choice but to shoot man with mental illness who was holding his mother hostage

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

PITTSBURG, Calif. -- A police official said May 9 that snipers had no choice but to shoot and kill a 20-year-old man with a history of mental illness who had held his mother hostage at gunpoint in the family's Pittsburg apartment for almost 30 hours.

The suspect pointed the gun at his mother Saturday evening, and the two snipers from the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office believed her life was in danger, said Pittsburg police Lt. Brian Addington.

Addington said the man was a gang member, was on probation, had been in a mental health facility and had a history of using drugs including cocaine, marijuana and mushrooms.

The standoff began about 1:30 p.m. Friday, when officers responded to a call of a man with a gun at the Marina Heights apartments at 2 Marina Blvd.

The suspect barricaded himself in the apartment and threatened to shoot his mother, himself and any officers who tried to enter, Addington said. He said the man's father arrived quickly on Friday and cooperated with police.

SWAT and crisis teams evacuated the three-building apartment complex, as well as some homes on an adjacent street. Addington said officers tried numerous tactics, including deploying tear gas, in an effort to get the man to surrender.

About 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Addington said, members of the sheriff's SWAT team, while looking through a scope, saw the suspect with his gun pointed at his head.

"His mother was in front of him in a crouched position and he was a few feet behind her," Addington said. "He turned his gun on his mother, at which time two sharpshooters shot him as they felt her life was in imminent danger."

The mother, age 48, was taken to John Muir Medical Center in Concord, treated for exposure to tear gas and released.

"We don't believe she or the suspect slept during the entire incident," Addington said. "We believe he had the gun in his hand the entire standoff and was smoking marijuana."

The man was convicted of a 2009 robbery, Addington said. He had a warrant for allegedly violating his probation.