WAYNE, Mich. (WXYZ) — A 40-year-old father killed by Wayne police following a mental health crisis struggled for more than half his life to find treatment for his serious psychiatric conditions.
John Zook, who called 911 in June after stabbing himself 54 times inside his own apartment, would be fatally shot after officers say he refused their commands to drop a knife, eventually stepping towards them.
The Wayne County Prosecutor later ruled that the officers acted in self-defense.
But for more than two decades before that—according to police reports, hospital records and interviews with family members—Zook made repeated pleas for help to treat his bipolar and schizophrenia, suffering through five different separate suicide attempts.
“He said: 'Mom, I need some help, I want to get some help,'” recalled his mother Rosemarie Black, who petitioned the court repeatedly for her son to be hospitalized.
From an early age, Zook suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Records show he was first hospitalized in 2002 at the now demolished state psychiatric hospital in Northville, after trying to drive into oncoming traffic.
RELATED: A Detroit hospital released him hours after he tried to kill himself. The next day, he did.
“He wanted the voices out of his head,” she said. “That’s how he got the voices out.”
The hospitalization stabilized him, but Zook would fall back into a cycle of paranoia and self-harm. In 2011, his mom petitioned the court to hospitalize him again, writing that he “won’t take his medication” and “is seeing demons everywhere.”
Most of Zook’s hospital stays lasted between two and three weeks, according to family members.
John’s first suicide attempt took place in 2015, when police were called after he cut his neck with a knife. He would try again three years later, and again two years after that when he stabbed himself in a hotel room.
After each suicide atempt, Zook would be hospitalized.
“I was never worried about him harming me or our son” said Destiney Edwards, Zook’s fiancé. “When he went into episodes, I was more worried about me waking up one day and finding him dead from self-harm.”
In 2022, Zook was in such despair that he walked into the Wayne Police Department, pleading for help.
Police body camera from that day shows officers bringing Zook to a nearby hospital, where they petitioned him for treatment.
Bodycam video shows Zook hospital interaction in 2022:
“He came to the lobby hallucinating,” an officer told hospital staff. “He’s saying he’s hearing voices and seeing things that aren’t there and he needs to be in a psych ward.”
Zook would be hospitalized, stabilized and released. But the next crisis never seemed far away.
Tom Watkins spent years running the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network and reviewed the timeline of Zook's mental health history.
“What we owe him, what we owe our entire community is to take a look at that situation and ask: what are the lessons learned?” Watkins said.
For those suffering with severe mental illness like Zook, Watkins said, short hospital stays alone aren’t nearly enough.
Watkins says they require assertive community treatment, which includes coordinated services designed to meet people like Zook where they are, and includes home visits and closer monitoring.
“We see people not falling through cracks, but falling through gaping holes in our public mental health system,” Watkins said.
For Zook, his fall would end on June 18th of last year. In his Wayne apartment, with his 4-year-old son inside, he stabbed himself with a kitchen knife 54 times, then called 911.
“How did you hurt yourself?” asked the dispatcher.
“Cut myself all over,” Zook replied.
“What caused this,” she asked.
“Just schizophrenia,” Zook said, adding that he had not taken his medication in years.
Police were dispatched, including—the city said—an officer trained to respond to mental health crises. When Zook answered the door, he was still holding the knife that he had stabbed himself with.
Officers made repeated commands for him to drop the knife, but he would not.
When an officer tried to fire his taser, it didn’t work, and after John stepped towards them—the knife still in his hand—one of the officers opened fire. Zook died on the scene.
Attorney Gary Felty was retained by Zook’s family after he was killed.
“What do I think about this case? I think a man picked up the telephone, asked for help and the police came, and as a result,” Felty said, “he was shot and killed.”
The shooting would be ruled justified by Wayne County’s Prosecutor, who said Zook carried “a dangerous weapon,” “was not acting rationally” and “did not respond to commands.”
An internal investigation by Wayne Police cleared both officers who responded that day of any misconduct.
Related Video: Watch the Wayne Police Critical Incident Community Briefing on the case
Zook’s family has not ruled out a lawsuit against the department.
“When a man loses his life with that history of reaching out, begging for help, and the system lets him down? It’s tragic,” Watkins said.
“And the tragedy is just compounded by nobody giving a damn.”
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.