A man who was fatally shot by police early Thursday morning was despondent over being out of work and was battling bipolar disorder, a family member said.
Hector Esparza, 25, was shot by police about 1:20 a.m. inside his home at 4503 Fillmore St., as he came at officers with a BB gun in his hand.
Before the shooting, Esparza had talked of getting in a shootout with officers, Denver police and family members said.
Esparza had been upset about losing his job as a landscaper, said his half brother, Mondo Guillart.
The loss of income stymied his ability to make child-support payments for his two girls. He was separated from his wife, Guillart said.
“He was a loving father and a good-hearted person,” Guillart said.
Esparza had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Guillart said, and was taking several medications but began hallucinating early Thursday morning.
“He started seeing figures and other people — he was talking to them, and that’s what made him snap,” Guillart said.
Early Thursday morning, Esparza, while hallucinating, attacked his stepfather; police were called.
“He was very incoherent,” Guillart said.
Police spokesman Sonny Jackson said when officers arrived they found an assault victim, and when they went through the house to talk to the suspect, a man armed with a “replica of a gun” came at them.
“Officers fired at the suspect, striking him multiple times,” Jackson said. The suspect was taken to Denver Health Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Earlier in the evening, before the shooting, the man told others that he was going to get in a shootout with police, Jackson said. Guillart corroborated that account.
The Denver coroner’s office identified the dead man as Esparza.
An investigation into the assault and the shooting is ongoing, Jackson said.
Esparza had been in trouble with the law before.
He had been arrested numerous times, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records, including for a felony assault in 2003 to which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced in 2004 to two years in prison.
After being released from prison, Esparza struggled to find work and get his life together, Guillart said.
Esparza, who grew up in east Denver, would have turned 26 on Monday.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
