(4/16/99)

Sergei Babarin had a history of mental illness.

His family wanted him committed to a hospital. But it never happened.

Today, doctors who treated him at Valley Mental Health held a news conference to explain why.

News Specialist Pamela Davis has more.

Administrators at Valley Mental Health say they never diagnosed Babarin as schizophrenic.

Depressed, yes...and at times, psychotic.

But when doctors saw him last in August of 1998, they say there was no way they could have had him legally committed, even though Babarin's son begged them to do so.

Aleksandr Babarin says he said, "Please, please pay attention. He is so paranoid. He is so ill. It's unexcusable for them not to listen to me, to my requests to pay special attention."

"If he was taking medicine, I believe, or committed to hospital, there would be no yesterday," says the gunman's son.

But Dr. Michael Stevens, Clinical Director at Valley Mental Health, says, "With our best predictions, we can predict anybody's violent behavior less than ten percent of the time at any point in time."

Administrators at Valley Mental Health say when they last saw Babarin in August of 1998, he showed no signs of being an immediate risk to himself or others.

They say it's very possible his condition deteriorated in the last eight months.

Babarin's family members say they are disappointed and frustrated they did not get more help from the mental health system...and they plan to contact a lawyer.