MILTON, N.H. – Dale and Jeanne Pelletier say the 33-year-old man who was shot and killed last week by police after a pursuit was not their son – at least, not the son they knew. They say Dale Jr. was a loving son and adoring father, but a troubled man.

The Pelletiers said Sunday their son suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, which led Dale Jr. to believe that the government and unknown individuals with bad intentions were after him.

He often heard voices telling him to hurt people he loved, his mother told Foster’s Daily Democrat in a story published Monday.

Dale Jr. thought his parents’ home was bugged and was preoccupied with his family’s safety, frequently checking under the beds at night and calling his 7-year-old daughter, who lives with her mother – his former girlfriend – to check on her well-being, according to his parents.

But neither could say what finally led their son to get into his old Dodge pickup and drive around his hometown of Milton Mills and neighboring Acton, Maine, on Friday afternoon, firing a handgun at pursuing police officers, a home and passing motorists, one of whom was struck in the arm.

“No one knows how that poor boy suffered,” Jeanne Pelletier said.

Dale Sr. wonders if officials made every effort to resolve the conflict without use of deadly force, saying he believed Dale Jr. was out of bullets by the time policed rammed his pickup. “All I want to do is make sure no other kid ends up that way,” he said.

Dale Jr.’s brother, Gerard Pelletier, said the family began noticing a change in his behavior about 21/2 years ago.

“We just thought he would snap out of it,” Gerard said. “He wasn’t Dale for quite a few years and we slowly lost him.”

The family said Dale Jr. was encouraged to seek medical help, but eventually became distrustful of his doctors. He also refused to take his medication.

“It made him sleep all the time but he wanted to try and live life,” his mother said.