Police were acquainted with Ryan Carnan's history of mental problems

Aug 26, 2013 08:54 GMT  ·  By

A 29-year-old man killing his mother, then getting fatally shot in a stand-off with police in California, had mental health problems, reports say.

According to KTLA, Ryan Carnan of Simi Valley shot his mother, got on a tractor and started firing at random through the Bridal Path neighborhood.

“Guy come by with a tractor. Got my dog there and he comes by and I said, ‘Are you shooting up there?’ And then he looks at me with the gun. He has the gun. And I said, ‘Oh, you are shooting up there’ and he just stared at me,” describes resident Norm Trevena for CBS Los Angeles.

Treveva recalls the man having a “really weird-looking look on his face.” No other residents were injured when he sprayed the area with bullets.

Police Commander Stephanie Shannon gave a statement specifying that Carnan had gotten in trouble before, at which point the subject of his mental condition came up. They last heard from him in 2008.

“The Simi Valley Police Department has had prior contacts with Mr. Carnan, most recently in ’08. [...] Those were mental health-related calls,” Shannon explains.

“Police have to make quick decisions. That decision in this case resulted in an individual being shot by our officers that what I would suggest has been the direct result of saving people’s lives in this neighborhood,” she says.

The shooting took place on Saturday, at around 5 p.m. Carnan burned down the family home on Mellow Lane after killing his mother. Daily Mail informed that he came clean about the crime to his brother.

“We want everyone to kind of respect the fact that they’re dealing with the loss of their mother and their brother,” a spokesman for the family has said in a press conference.

“If you could just give them some privacy — that’s really all we’re asking for,” he adds.