LOS ANGELES — A double amputee who was armed with a knife and suspected of having stabbed a passerby had experienced a mental health crisis hours before Southern California police fatally shot him 11 times last month, his mother said in an exclusive interview.
Dorothy Lowe said her son, Anthony Lowe, awoke on the morning of Jan. 26 “agitated and frustrated” at the loss of both his legs, which were amputated last year. He was scheduled to receive his prosthetic legs Monday, but he was experiencing more depressive episodes that caused her to worry he might try to hurt himself.
“That morning I felt something,” she said. “He woke up a bit off, and I asked him if he was OK, and he said: ‘Yeah, I just need some air.’ I offered to take him out, but he wanted to go out alone.”
Dorothy Lowe said that she called the police around 10 a.m. and that responding officers spent about 30 minutes talking to Anthony in her driveway. One of the officers, whom she did not identify, assured her that Anthony was depressed because of his legs and just needed some fresh air.
“I never knew what they said to him, but he came back emotional,” Dorothy said of her son. “Then he wheeled off, and I didn’t see him again.”
Anthony was killed shortly after 3:40 p.m. that same day.
Huntington Park police declined to comment, citing a pending investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. A spokesman for the sheriff’s department did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
On Monday, Huntington Park police released audio and video of the moments leading to Lowe’s death, including video of the stabbing that led to the encounter, a 911 call from the stabbing victim and related police radio traffic.
“First and foremost, I wish to extend my condolences to the family of Anthony Lowe. I empathize with their grief and understand their demand for information, answers and justice,” Police Chief Cosme Lozano told reporters. “I also understand the local and…
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