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Erika Ruiz remembers the first time her son Isaac Ortiz experienced a mental health episode when he was 14.
Over the next five years, Ortiz would be hospitalized nearly 20 times to treat his mental health.
“He wasn’t diagnosed immediately, but eventually it came to light that he was schizo-effective, which is schizophrenic and bi-polar at the same time,” Ruiz said of her son.
As her son got older and turned 18, it became easier for him to be released from the hospital without his parents’ consent.
That was the case earlier this summer when Ortiz, now 19, was released from Cottonwood Springs, a mental health facility in Olathe, into the custody of a 19-year-old friend.
“Why would you release a kid that’s not ready to be released to the public?” asked his stepfather, Hugo Ortiz.
His parents point to his discharge paperwork as an indication that he wasn’t ready to be discharged. They noted he listed his friend as his father and referenced speaking in code as part of his safety plan.
Worse yet, Isaac was released without his medication.
As his parents worked to get his prescription filled, he stopped by their house in mid-June.
“He stopped by the house, and he said, ‘Mom, I love you,’ and gave me a kiss on the forehead,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz then said her son told her he had to go because someone was going to "get you and get my family." Her son was worried that if they came and he was with his family, they would come after everyone. If he left, it would be just him.
“He gets scared, and he gets paranoid,” Ruiz said. “He thinks that somebody is coming after his family. He gets protective over us.”
Around 5 a.m. on June 17, police in Shawnee received a call from a resident reporting they heard gunfire near the intersection of W. 67th Street and Lackman Road.
Unbeknownst to his parents, after leaving their house, Isaac went to a friend’s house, where he stole a truck and a firearm in the middle of the night.
As police responded to the call, they located the stolen truck abandoned with its flashers on.
They later spotted Isaac.
As officers attempted to talk with Isaac, he refused to comply and ran into a nearby wooded area.
Body cameras worn by the two officers who responded show Isaac firing multiple shots toward the officers as they chased after him, prompting one of the officers to return fire.
Neither Isaac nor the officers were struck by the gunfire, and Isaac was eventually taken into custody without additional incident in a nearby church parking lot.
In a review of the use-of-force incident, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe concluded the officer “lawfully used deadly force to defend himself and others against an imminent and actual threat of death or great bodily harm from Isaac Ortiz.”
Howe’s report noted Isaac lived with “profound mental illness.”
Despite that designation, Howe’s office charged Isaac with attempted capital murder.
Isaac remains in custody at the Johnson County jail awaiting trial. If he’s found guilty, he could face at least 25 years to life in prison. A death sentence is also possible.
“That’s just outrageous to me,” Ruiz said. “When you attempt to murder, you’re trying to kill with the intent, and that was never the case.”
Kansas City-area attorney Craig Divine is not affiliated with the case, but he said the charge is common in any situation where an officer is placed in harm’s way.
“When you have a discharge of a firearm and a uniformed police officer, you’re always going to see attempted capital murder charges filed,” Divine said. “It’s a tough pill to swallow for his parents, who also see him as a victim in this situation.”
Isaac’s stepfather doesn’t dispute what his son did but believes he wasn’t himself at the time.
“They make it seem like he was this teenager troublemaker, that he wanted to do something like this,” Ortiz said. “It’s definitely not the case. He was not in the right mind at the time.”
Divine said that alone isn’t enough to absolve Isaac of the charge he faces.
“Kansas doesn’t have an insanity defense,” he said. “You can’t just say, ‘Well, I didn’t understand right from wrong, so I can’t be found guilty.' It can, however, be a mitigating factor.”
While Divine said it will be difficult to get away from the capital murder charge, he noted the mental health background could factor into a judge’s decision at sentencing.
As the family awaits the outcome of Isaac’s case, they’re relying on video calls from jail as the only way to stay in touch with their son.
They’re also drawing inspiration from an AI-generated image showing a picture of Isaac being released from jail into his mom's waiting arms.
“You know, I can imagine him coming out and thinking, ‘Thank God I’m out, thank you for helping me,’” his mom said.
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