The parents of a suicidal Alabama woman are grieving after they called police to try and get her help -- but they ended up shooting her to death, AL.com reports.
Melissa Boarts, 36, was driving south on Interstate 85 on Sunday when her mother called 911 to ask for help, as she was threatening to harm herself. The officers followed her until she pulled her car over. But they say Boarts charged at them with a weapon, prompting them to open fire.
Boarts died at the scene.
"Instead [of helping] the police ended up putting a bullet in her," her parents said.
Julian McPhillips, an attorney representing the family said Boarts was suffering from mental illness and said authorities kept Boarts' family in the dark about what happened on Sunday. They are planning to pursue legal action.
"It is absolutely outrageous that our precious daughter, Melissa, was shot and killed by the Auburn police," her father, Michael Boarts told AL.com. "There was absolutely no justification for it and we are all in deep mourning."
According to the Montgomery Advertiser, Boarts suffered from bipolar disorder.
“Any kind of decent police training would teach you how to deal with people with mental health issues," McPhillips told the Advertiser. "If you go around shooting them all just because they have a knife in their hand, that’s terribly wrong.”
