Suspect armed with sword fatally shot by police had been released by mental health crisis center July 4

DETROIT (FOX 2) - On July 4, Detroit police took Darrien Walker to a medical health crisis center. He was admitted, but then back on the streets just 24 hours later.

"The million-dollar question is, was he treated?" said DPD Chief James Craig.

Craig said Walker was taken for mental health care weeks before he was killed in an altercation with police. Last Thursday Walker was armed with a sword and two knives and charged at officers on the city's west side. Craig says fearing for their lives, officers shot Walker one time, killing him.

FOX 2 asked the psychiatric center at Detroit Receiving Hospital, but due to policy, they will not comment on patients.

"What happened when he was released within 24 hours of our contact," Craig said. "What was the treatment. Was there follow up treatment. I already know the answer."

Just three weeks before his death, Walker allegedly pointed a gun at a neighbor on Aurora Street and then barricaded himself in a house. He was suffering a psychotic episode and was taken for treatment, but released within a day.

"Could we have saved him if he had been properly treated, that's a problem," Craig said.

Walker, a father, had an obsession with weapons and becoming a knight.

"You want to talk about Black Lives Matter, let's talk about individuals of color who live in crisis," Craig said.

The chief says the numbers speak for themselves.

"This year we've had fifteen barricaded suspects, fifteen," Craig said. "And 60 percent, that's a conservative estimate, are individuals suffering from mental illness."

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With no long-term options for people, it is left for police and prisons to deal with. 

"I talk to my colleague (Wayne County) Sheriff Benny Napoleon and 70 to 80 percent of his inmates are suffering from mental illness," Craig said.

Craig's officers are trained to handle the mentally ill, but he is calling for a collaborative effort.  

"We are part of the solution," he said. "But we can't do it alone."