TULSA, Okla. — The mother of the man shot and killed by Tulsa police officers Feb. 8 told 2 News her plea for de-escalation with her son was met with hostility and gunfire.
Michael Glunt was younger brother to Karmen Glunt and son to Debbie Tyler. Tyler said she was the one who called police after coming home to find her son - who has a history of PTSD and depression, but not drug use - abnormally gone without telling anyone. Tyler said he took with him an old revolver she kept for security at their midtown Tulsa apartment.
- Previous coverage>>> Tulsa police shoot and kill man with gun near 51st and Sheridan
Tyler said she later found him at 51st and Sheridan on foot, ignoring her pleas to come home with her.
"I didn't know what to do because it was beyond what I could do on my own," Tyler said. "I thought I was trying to save his life by dialing those numbers (911). But I sealed his fate."
"We didn't know if this person was suicidal or if this person was looking to do harm to somebody else," Capt. Richard Meulenberg of Tulsa Police Department said at the scene on Feb. 8. "But when we have information saying he's 'going to do something he can't come back from', that implies there's something dangerous afoot."
However, the women argue Tulsa police got things wrong from the beginning.
"They could help her deescalate him," Karmen Glunt said. "She told the police that he was autistic, that he was in crisis."
Glunt's family said multiple officers shot him within a minute after getting on scene, then waited nine minutes before attempting any first aid.
2 News has filed an Open Records Request for TPD body cam footage from the incident, one of two officer-involved shootings in the same weekend.
"There was no one but officers, and the first people to touch him were other cops that put a gun to his head," Glunt's sister said.
"I got to his feet and they pointed their guns at me," Tyler said. "They told me to get back. I almost didn't. I almost let them shoot me."
"No one's contacted us (from TPD since the shooting)," Karmen Glunt added. "A grief counselor contacted us (on Feb. 11). That's the first time that Tulsa Police Department has contacted us."
TPD's statement said one officer is on administrative leave, and that evidence from it will be given to the county district attorney's office for review.
"We're law-abiding citizens," Tyler said about the police's handling of the armed mental health distress call. "We don't hate cops. But this has got to stop."
The family has since set up a GoFundMe to help cover costs for Glunt's memorial services.
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