By admin 
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A Phoenix family says their call to police for help during their son’s mental health crisis ended with him being shot and killed by officers. Phoenix police say 20-year-old Jonathan Marquez Delgado was armed with a knife and ran toward officers.
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There are different accounts of what happened Sunday morning. Delgado was shot and killed by Phoenix police in a neighborhood near 19th Avenue and Peoria Avenue.
“He did not deserve this, not like this,” said Nancy Marquez, Delgado’s mother.
Family describes crisis that led to the call
Marquez is relying on her sister, Magdalena Mojica, for support after Sunday morning.
“We will never consider having to need to call them again, because instead of helping,” Marquez said.
“They killed him,” Mojica said.
The family says Delgado’s mental health crisis started Saturday night. By Sunday morning, he was gone from the house. They found him in an alley, holding a knife.
“I told him, ‘baby no come on lets just go, please,’ I was like, ‘we love you, come on,’ but he wouldn’t,” said Magdalena Mojica, Delgado’s aunt.
Out of options, they called police for help.
“I regret it so much, I feel like it’s my fault,” Mojica said.
“We should have never called them. My son would still be alive,” Marquez said.
What police say happened
Phoenix police say when officers arrived, they ordered Delgado to drop the knife. Police say he refused and walked toward them. Police say they first tried to use a taser, but it didn’t work. Police say Delgado ran at officers, and two of them fired their guns.
Mojica says that’s not what she saw.
“He was just standing still, standing still with the knife in his neck,” Mojica said.
A nearby witness, David Guerrero, backs her up. He said he never saw Delgado charge at officers.
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Phoenix police maintain Delgado ran toward them and say body camera video supports their version of events. Police are promising to release the video within 14 days.
Questions about crisis response
“There’s just there’s still a lot of unanswered questions,” said Roy Taylor, a police procedure expert.
Taylor says when officers respond to a mental health crisis, they need a clear plan to de-escalate.
“Who’s gonna be the contact officer, who’s gonna be the cover officer, who’s gonna set up perimeters, who has a less than lethal weapon,” Taylor said.
It is not clear what plan, if any, was in place Sunday morning, or how quickly the situation escalated.
Phoenix police said one of the involved officers is a certified Crisis Intervention Team officer. This is still an active investigation, and police said more information will be released in two weeks.
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