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Mother Disputes Police Account After Mentally Challenged Son Fatally Shot By Officer

(CBS) -- There are more questions surrounding the police-involved shooting death of a mentally-challenged man Friday night in Humboldt Park.

CBS 2's Jeremy Ross has more on the ongoing investigation.

Police describe the situation as an encounter with a man with a weapon, possibly a knife, and they had to act. The man's distraught mother says that was not the case.

Pamela Anderson was in shock Friday after her 33 year-old son, James Anderson, was shot and killed by an officer.

She called first responders Friday night to help her mentally challenged son get to the hospital for needed medication, adding that she's made this kind of call before.

She says when officers got to her home, she told them her son had no weapon, but there was a box cutter in his room.

In a statement police say they responded to a "domestic-related man with a knife" call. They say they saw the 33-year-old holding what appeared to be a knife or a sharp object.

Police say they ordered him to drop the weapon several times but commands were ignored. He continued to approach them in a threatening manner and was Tased more than once. Anderson says a Taser was not used.

Ultimately, an officer shot him. His mother says her son was trying to turn on the lights.

"My whole kitchen was lit up… from them shooting," Anderson said. "It was dark, there wasn't no light on or nothing. I had to run to my room for cover, to keep them from shooting me, to keep them from shooting me, and I begged them while they was shooting to stop, he don't have nothing."

Anderson's family wants to know why the discrepancy in the use of the Taser and did officers on scene know that he was mentally challenged.

Police say this is all part of an ongoing investigation.

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