Saturday, December 16, 2006
Homeowner Kills Intruder
By T.J. Wilham
Journal Staff Writer
Christopher Mack couldn't stop crying Thursday, fearing for his life.
Mack, a diagnosed schizophrenic, left his parents' home in the East Mountains for a walk sometime before 6 p.m.
Hours later he was shot to death after he used a cinder block to break through the front door of a home three miles away.
Police said the homeowner feared Mack was armed with a gun.
"It is tragic in all regards," said Bernalillo County Sheriff's Lt. Matt Thomas.
Mack's mother said Friday that she believes her son was having a psychotic episode and might have thought he was at his own home.
Police said they don't know why Mack, 23, broke through the door. Mack doesn't have a history of violence, according to court records in Bernalillo County.
"We may never know what his true intentions were," Thomas said.
Shortly before 8 p.m., police were called to the 300 block of La Madera near Sandia Park after residents called 911 reporting a suspicious man in the neighborhood.
Sheriff's deputies arrived, searched the area and found nothing.
A short time later, another resident called reporting that a man was outside his home and threatening him, police said. The caller said the man might have a gun.
The caller stayed on the phone with 911 operators as the man, whom police later identified as Mack, used a cinder block to "ram" open the front door.
The homeowner, who was with his fiancée, fired one shot at Mack, killing him, police said.
Investigators didn't find any evidence to indicate Mack was armed.
Mack was a Manzano High School graduate and a former football player.
"He wouldn't hurt anybody," said Mack's mother, Patti Scherer. "He was one of the kindest, loving individuals ... His mind was just not there."
Scherer said Mack was diagnosed with schizophrenia after his brother, Patrick, 23, died unexpectedly 4 1/2 years ago.
Scherer said her younger son had his ups and downs with the his mental illness. The day leading up to his death had been "tough," she said. He was grieving over his brother, crying and listening to Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" over and over, she said.
"He just kept saying that there is no hope for his life," Scherer said. "When he is in one of his psychotic episodes, he will get scared. He would run and hide and (be) afraid people were after him."
Eventually, Mack took a nap, and shortly before 6 p.m., his parents discovered he was gone.
About a month ago, Scherer said her son tried to kill himself with a razor blade and needed 117 stitches to close one of the wounds.
And before that, Mack had left home and tried to walk to Santa Fe, she said. He was later found lying in a ditch in the rain.
Scherer said she was going to call police if her son hadn't returned by the next morning. Instead, police showed up at her door that night.
"I just had a sick feeling," she said.
The homeowner, whom police declined to identify, has not been charged in the shooting.
Investigators said the case will be submitted to the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office for review.
At the home Friday, a man, who identified himself as the homeowner's father, said his son was upset about what happened and didn't feel comfortable discussing the events
