Video: Bipolar, Schizophrenic Man Pulls Gun on Ala. Police Officers

Pickett first extended his condolences to Williams’ family, with whom police officials met shortly before the news conference. The family was able to view the videos.

“Any loss in our city is heartbreaking, and we recognize the imminent pain it brings to our community,” the chief said.

Williams’ grieving mother, Priscilla Mahand, told AL.com earlier this week in an extensive interview that she was heartbroken over the killing of only child, and just wanted to know what happened.

She said her son suffered from mental illness and had trouble controlling his emotions when something triggered him.

“Whether he was right, whether he was wrong, either way it’s not going to bring him back,” Mahand said. “But I just want that peace for me because that’s my baby.”

Pickett on Wednesday provided a timeline of the events that led to the deadly shooting, which happened just before 11:30 p.m. Friday outside an apartment in the 800 block of 45th Street in the Rev. Dr. Morrell Todd Homes public housing community.

Before officers arrived on the scene, the Housing Authority Birmingham District captured on its surveillance cameras an altercation involving two women and Willilams.

Williams was scene brandishing a gun and pacing through the community, visibly armed.

At 11:25 p.m., 911 received a Shot Spotter alert indicating gunfire in the Kingston community.

At 11:31 p.m., a separate 911 call reported the fight between the three people with the caller noting the presence of a woman.

In response, Pickett said, four officers were dispatched to the 900 block of 48th Street to investigate.

The officers arrived on the scene at 11:38 p.m.

“Community members immediately directed the officers’ attention toward the individual, later identified as the deceased,” Pickett said. “One person stated, ‘He got a gun in the black.’”

One of the officers tried to tell Williams to show his hands. At that exact moment, Pickett said, Williams pulled a gun from what appeared to be the front pocket of his hoodie.

“In response to that immediate threat, the officer discharged one round from his service weapon, striking the individual,” Pickett said, “and this occurred before the officer could complete the word ‘hands’ of his verbal command.”

Officers immediately secured the scene, secured the firearm and began life-saving measures on Williams.

Birmingham Fire and Rescue personnel then transported him to UAB Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 12:19 a.m.

The HABD video showed a clearly agitated Williams. He was seen striking a vehicle at one point and pinning a woman to the ground at another point in the video.

Williams continued to walk around, still holding the gun.

Eventually Williams put the gun in the front pocket of his hoodie. It stayed there until the officers arrived.

The officer’s body camera showed that as the police approached Williams, he pulled out the gun from his hoodie and was immediately shot.

“I understand that’s difficult to watch, it’s difficult for us to watch as well,” Pickett said. “But I think it’s very important that we give our community the context of what happened that night.”

The chief said it’s important to emphasize the threat that the community and BPD officers faced that night.

“When officers arrive on a scene and a gun is involved, especially in a volatile, fast-moving situation, the risk to everyone around quickly escalates,” Pickett said. “This incident occurred in a densely populated housing community with children, elderly residents and families in very close proximity.”

“At times, officers only have a split second to make a decision that’s aimed at preserving life,” he said, “not just everyone in the immediate area but also for those officers on the scene.”

Pickett did not take questions following the news conference.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is leading the investigation.

Williams, the father of a 9-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, lived with his mother and stepfather at their Pinson home but had recently been staying with a friend in Kingston.

Mahand was in Tennessee celebrating the holiday with her 97-year-old grandmother when her son’s friends called her and told her he had been shot.

Williams attended Hoover City Schools and had worked at multiple McDonald’s branches for years.

He most recently worked at the Vestavia Hills restaurant, and in Pinson for the three years before that.

“That was his niche, and once he found his niche, he stuck with it,” Mahand said. “He actually wanted to come to Tennessee for Thanksgiving with us but he had to work, and that was fine.”

Williams had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

“It wasn’t all the time, just when something triggered him,” his mother said.

“It got better when his son came. He was more calm.”

Williams stopped taking medication when he got old enough to make that decision for himself but still managed without it most of the time, she said.

“He thought it (treatment and medication) would define him and confine him,” Mahand said. “He wanted to be functioning for his kids.”

Mahand previously said she’s in shock that her son was killed by police because he’s never had any problems with officers in the past.

“I’m just not one of those to say my child would never do something,” she said. “I’m not in denial like that.”

“He didn’t have a problem with the police,” she said. “He didn’t have a problem with people.”

“I don’t want him to be defined by one moment because I don’t know what happened,” Mahand said. “I just don’t want my baby to be painted in a bad picture whatsoever.”

Regardless of the outcome, Mahand said she felt like someone from the police department should have called her.

“I don’t want anybody to think I’m blaming anybody, because I’m not,” she said.

“I can’t say what my child would have done or would not have done in that situation.”

“But I feel like somebody should have at least came to me and extended their condolences – at the end of the day he still died at the hands of the police and even extending condolences is not an admission of guilt,” she said.

“Somebody could have contacted me and said, ‘I’m sorry this happened,’ and that could have been it,” she said.

Mahand said her son was kind and often gave money to the less fortunate.

They were recently at a convenience store and Williams gave his change to someone outside. Mahand asked him why he did that.

“He said, ‘You don’t give to the homeless?’ You have to be a blessing, and that’s why I’m blessed. Ma, you’re going to have to do better,’” Mahand recalled. “That’s who he was.”

Asked how she wanted her son to be remembered, Mahand said, “I want them to remember every part of my son – the good, the bad and the ugly - because that’s who he was.”

“Anybody that knows him experienced every part of him,” she said. “He had more good than anything.”

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