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�No need to kill him� Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Riley Bean, 62, a friend of Mark LeRoy Vincent, questions why sheriff�s deputies had to use lethal force when Vincent threatened them with a hunting knife Monday. Mentally ill man�s relatives think police didn�t have to shoot By Bill Varble Sadness will mix with anger when Mark LeRoy Vincent takes his last ride today. The funeral takes place this morning for the 39-year-old Central Point man who was shot to death Monday by Jackson County sheriff�s deputies after he threatened them with a hunting knife. Flora Vincent, his mother, said Friday that family members think the officers who shot her son overreacted. "We�re quite angry," she said. "There was no need to kill him." Deputies were trying to pick up Vincent on a warrant for a mental hold issued by a county psychiatrist after Vincent quit taking medication to combat his paranoid schizophrenia. Mental holds are issued for mentally ill people when they are considered dangerous to themselves or others. After the funeral, Vincent�s body will be taken to Antioch Cemetery in the back of his beloved, old, four-wheel-drive pickup, said his mother and a family friend. "They�re going to put his casket in the back of the truck he loved," said Riley Bean, 62, a friend and neighbor of Vincent�s since Vincent was 7 years old. "It�s what he would have wanted," Flora Vincent said. "He was a good mechanic." She said her son would be laid to rest in the old cemetery between his grandparents and his great-great grandmother. Vincent�s father, Wayne Vincent, 77, was being released from Rogue Valley Medical Center late in the day Friday. He was accidentally shot in the wrist � possibly by a bullet fragment or ricochet � when his son was shot. Wayne Vincent was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Flora Vincent said it�s not clear if her husband will re-gain full use of his hand. "He�s using his fingers," she said. She said her son told her she should go outside the night of the fatal shooting at the Vincent home on Willow Springs Road. "I took a walk," she said. "I knew they were coming. "When I came back I told them he had a knife, but he had no gun." Bean describes Vincent as a good friend. "He was over here at my house every day," he said. "He was always working on a Chevy or trading parts. We�d feed him. If he was broke we�d give him a few dollars. "He was like family. Easygoing, honest, always trying to help you. He had a lot of friends that enjoyed him. I never, ever seen him get in an argument." But Bean said Vincent had recently been talking "weird stuff," talking about an invasion of California by Russians. "I knew he needed help," he said. Vincent was involved in an altercation with authorities in 1990 when he fired as many as 20 rounds at officers and burned down his parents� home. He was sentenced to 20 years in the state hospital in Salem. He was released after 3� years. A state official said Vincent did well in custody and was discharged from mandatory treatment in 1997 because he continued to flourish and was taking medication to control his illness. The deputies who shot Vincent, Charles Retzer and James Biddle, remain on administrative leave, Capt. Ed Mayer of the Jackson County Sheriff�s Department said Friday. He said details of the shooting, including physical evidence such as shell casings, blood tests, trajectories and other details, will be presented to a grand jury soon. Bean said the Vincent who came back from Salem differed from the Vincent who went in. "He came out of there hating cops and doctors," Bean said. "He didn�t like none of them. He didn�t ever want to go back up there. He had revenge in his heart." Vincent had an apartment for a time, then lived at a group home. Bean said Vincent, who weighed well over 300 pounds, once lifted a car engine with his arms. "That�s how strong he was, but I never seen him get violent." He said he could tell when Vincent wasn�t taking his meds. "I can�t say I was never afraid," he said. "He took his pickup to Portland a couple months ago and when he came back he said radiation was melting his pickup. He had a rash on his arms. I�d heard him say he was having human leg for dinner, or he wanted to eat his mom and dad. But he never threatened us in any way." He questioned why deputies had to use lethal force. "They could�ve shot him in the foot, for Christ�s sake," he said. "They didn�t have to shoot him like that. It really upset me when they had to do what they did." Bean said he doesn�t think Vincent tried to kill the officers he shot at in 1990. "He was a crack shot," he said. "If he wanted to, he would have drilled them." He wondered if there wasn�t something deputies could have done differently Monday. "I�m crippled up, and I think I could outrun him," he said. Mayer said the deputies acted in accordance with their training. "When split-second decisions have to be made and a danger is present, officers revert back to their training, which mandates them to use their weapon as a lethal tool," he said. "They used good judgment when they used the taser (a nonlethal weapon deputies used on Vincent before using their guns). It didn�t have the effect we typically find. "It�s extremely tragic. Our heart goes out to the family." Flora Vincent said the family is trying to be cool and take one step at a time. "There are a lot of them to take," she said. "We�ll be at my daughter�s until the house is cleaned and repaired." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.