ROUND ROCK, TX -- A tragic update to a story Patch reported over a month ago: Randall Dorsett, the young man shot during a home intrusion committed during a bipolar episode, has committed suicide.

The young man -- once a promising wrestler for his high school -- killed himself on April 3, his dad told the Austin American-Statesman. The father, Kim Dorsett, told the newspaper his son was under the impression he was running an errand for him during his bipolar episode.

Randy Dorsett was shot by a Hays County homeowner earlier this year while he was in the midst of a bipolar episode. Police at the time said he was under the influence of a synthetic drug named K2, but his father contacted Patch to dispute the account.

The younger Dorsett entered a house just outside Dripping Springs on Jan. 11, where a woman and her three children were sleeping, according to the Statesman's account. The woman told him to leave several times before she resorted to shooting him, she later told police.

Speaking about his son's recent suicide, Dorsett's father conveyed similar themes to the Statesman. He said his son was happy to have survived the shooting by the homeowner so that she wouldn't have to be left tormented over having killed him.

When his dad called Patch to clarify what had happened, he described a gentle young man in moments of his lucidity who was left tormented by his actions fueled by his mental illness. Invariably, the young man would ask his dad is perhaps he should write letters of apology to those he encountered while in the throes of a bipolar episode, the father described in a conversation with Patch.

"I'm so glad that I didn't die so she didn't have to deal with that," Kim Dorsett recalled his son saying to the newspaper.

His aunt reiterated the younger Dorsett's gentle nature to the Statesman, notwithstanding the mental illness with which he was afflicted: "If you knew him, you would know what a kind, gentle giant teddy bear he truly was," said the aunt, Beth Johnson. "He gave the best hugs."

ROUND ROCK, TX -- The father of a man accused by police of trying to choke a nurse to death during what they described as a K2-related rage has a decidedly different version of events that led to his son's incarceration.

Kim Dorsett, dad to 25-year-old Randall Dorsett, said his son -- who suffers from bipolar disorder -- was having a manic episode on the night in question. He personally called police from his home to secure an ambulance in transporting his son to the hospital, he told Patch in a telephone interview.

His son made it to the hospital for the desired psychiatric evaluation. But instead, he was booked into Williamson County Jail for allegedly choking a nurse at the hospital, according to an official police report.

Police say his son "...attempted to choke her to death," according to the affidavit police filed in the wake of the incident, as the Austin American-Statesman reported.

The young Dorsett was released from custody on Jan. 4 after posting bond, according to police accounts.

But the father questions the description of the event, saying his son has no history of physical violence. Still, he made allowances for the police officer having to stand guard during the episode.

"First of all, I understand and appreciate the police were thrown into a situation they're having to deal with," he said during an interview with Patch. "They have to make these decisions in the field that have great consequences."

But the main point the father of the accused wanted to make clear is that his son doesn't take K2. He had been taking a medicinal herb called Kratom instead.

In the official police affidavit, police said the suspect was under the influence of the synthetic drug, commonly known as "spice." It's a mixture of herbs, spices or shredded plant material that is then sprayed with a synthetic compound chemically similar to THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

The common side effects of K2 include extreme paranoia, delusions and hallucinations.

Kratom, on the other hand, is derived from a tropical decidioius, evergreen tree in the coffee family that has leaves often used for medicinal purposes. The tree is indigenous to Thailand.

His son is a former wrestling champ for Round Rock High School (he got all the way to the state championship meet in Abilene for his high school when he was 18, the father said with palpable pride). Now, the younger Dorsett practices power lifting and boxing.

Health-conscious and a fitness aficionado, the son would never take the harmful and dangerous K2 drug, the father asserted.

He hurt his back during a workout session, prompting him to look into natural remedies that might provide pain relief. He learned of Kratom, and has used the natural remedy as a way to relieve chronic back pain, he said.

But the elder Dorsett said he's never known his son to use the synthetic drug K2 as was reported by police in their official report.

"That's what he had that night," he said of his son's preferred treatment of Kratom. "It's not like he's addicted to it, but he finds it helps a lot. It's like taking Ibuprofen."

The alleged use of K2 contradicts everything he knows about his athletic son, the elder Dorsett said.

"I know my son pretty well," he said. "He reads a lot, and he tries to stay healthy. He would never take that stuff (K2). What they took from him wasn't K2."

Instead, he described a series of events leading up to his son's arrest that aligned as perfect storm to create yet another manic episode:

The younger man had a glass of wine during dinner combined with the Kratom, the elder man acknowledged. He hadn't slept in a while, an insomnia exacerbated by working a technical support job where his shift ends at 2 a.m., after which he likes to write as a creative outlet to record the day's activity.

"That's what happens with mania," the father said. "You get an accelerated metabolism."

The father noted he called the hospital the next day to check on his son's welfare, but staff wouldn't provide information (due to patient privacy rules, he surmised). He learned later from a friend of his son's that his boy was behind bars at the Williamson County Jail.

"I felt betrayed," he said. "I told them what was going on."

His son is currently in treatment, discovering ways to cope with his mental illness and learning specialized life skills to help him deal with his affliction.

"Right now, he's in a facility getting some treatment," the dad said. "He's doing well, taking his medicine like he's supposed to and getting life skills. When you're bipolar and realize this is something you have to deal with the rest of your life, it's very hard for a young man."

He's happy his son is now in treatment. But the entire episode has opened his eyes further as to his longstanding perception for the need of enhanced law enforcement training in recognizing signs of mental illness rather than an assumption of criminality.

In an earlier conversation, he cited the case of David Joseph -- an unarmed teen killed by an Austin Police Department police officer last month. The child's nakedness on that occasion should have alerted the responding officer to some form of mental illness rather than the tactics of a criminal, he agreed.

Instead, the 17-year-old black teenager was killed by the responding police officer within seconds of their encounter.

His own son removed his underwear on the night of his arrest, likely as a way of relieving the increased body temperature that tends to accompany a manic episode, he said.

"What I would like to see happen, and what should happen, is to have someone evaluate people to see what's going on at that point," the father said. "He (his son) was in a manic episode and taken to jail without addressing the mania. They should have first evaluated to see what the heck was going on."

In retrospect, he wishes his son had been medicated to calm him down while in the throes of the manic episode that made local headlines, not arrested and thrown into jail.

Perhaps he's too close to the situation, but his measure of the young man -- the former wrestling champ while in the prime of his youth -- is diametrically opposed to whatever the police say about him.

Instead, he said he sees a thoughtful, intellectually curious young man who expresses remorse after each manic episode, wondering aloud to his dad if he should write letters of apology to those who happened to be in his presence whenever his mental illness rears its ugly head.

"When he's taking his meds and not in a manic episode, he's a really good guy to talk to," his dad said.