When it happens — and relatives say it's rare for Franklin Williams to have a schizophrenic episode — he first starts to drink an inordinate amount of water. He takes baths and smokes cigarettes, anything to calm himself and quiet the voices in his head.
Williams' family said that scenario was playing out last Sunday night when they called police to their Southwest Baltimore home, hoping he could be taken to a hospital for mental health treatment. Instead, the 37-year-old was taken for treatment of multiple gunshot wounds after police say he refused to drop a knife.
Relatives contacted The Baltimore Sun, saying police had mischaracterized the events surrounding the shooting. The Police Department and the city police union declined to respond to the specific allegations.
"He's sick, and all he needed was some help," said Williams' mother, Barbara Owens, 65, during an interview in the lobby of the University of Maryland Medical Center after seeing him for the first time Wednesday.
Their complaints are based on an account from a 12-year-old nephew who they say was, apparently unknown to officers, inside the second-floor room where the confrontation took place. While police say Williams refused to drop a knife, the young boy said Williams wasn't advancing on the officers and wasn't given time to comply.
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