I'd like to hear the 911 call. There's a reason why the ambulance didn't show up but the cops did. What did the wife say to get the cops there and how did they know about his attempted suicides? Many times, wives will call for cops to come arrest him but when the handcuffs go on they'll flip flop and turn on the cops. Smells like this might be one of those situtations.
Yes, that would likely provide a better understanding of what role the wife and mother played.
At the same time, it appears the Reason.com article reported only those facts that produced a "bad cop, innnocent victim" story.
This from a local TV station: ...Police Chief Tony Tanner said Roberson lunged at the officers with two items he described as weapons and said Roberson ignored requests to drop the items. Tanner said Roberson then allegedly raised one of the weapons in an aggressive manner. Tanner said that's when officers fired. Elsewhere this account described one of the weapons as a two-pronged meat fork and the other unkown because it was (apparently) concealed under the body.
This may not have been a large residence and quarters may have been very close. So this account suggests LE gave the guy a free lunge and only when it seemed he would take further hostile action, they shot him.
Won't second guess LEO on the spot, but it doesn't seem to be a mace or taser situation. A weapon in both hands of a large, seemingly physically fit deranged individual in close quarters can be a very serious situation.