A man fatally shot by police over the weekend near Mall 205 apparently had attempted “suicide by cop” not long before but was taken for mental health treatment instead, his father said Tuesday.

Two callers reported that Koben Henriksen, 51, was walking in traffic on Southeast 103rd Drive near Stark Street and waving knives at passing cars about 1:40 p.m. Sunday before he was killed, police said.

A dispatch recording and Henriksen’s father indicate Henriksen might have been trying to instigate a fatal confrontation with police.

On the recording obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive through a streaming service, a male dispatcher can be heard advising:

“It could be a coincidence. But several weeks ago, a guy tried to induce a suicide by cop in the same area that matches the description and he was armed with several knives on him. Just for responding officers.”

Three minutes and 13 seconds later, an officer’s voice tells the dispatcher: “Subject down.”

Frederick Henriksen said that a couple of weeks ago when his son did something similar, officers didn’t shoot him but instead got him to a hospital, the elder Henriksen said.

“Koben doesn’t have a mean bone in his body,” his father said. “He had no intention whatsoever of hurting those policemen or anyone else.”

But Frederick Henriksen said he can’t comment directly on Sunday’s police response because he knows too few details about the circumstances. Instead, Henriksen criticized public mental health and court systems that he said left his son to suffer on the street with a severe and persistent mental illness.

“If someone is as sick as Koben was -- in a total psychotic break -- not being able to force him on medications to save his life -- that's the main problem,” he said.

In Oregon, a judge can force someone a mentally ill person to take medications with a court order, but it is a lengthy legal process that usually involves a civil commitment, a legal mandate to undergo treatment.

Frederick Henriksen spoke by telephone from Mexico, where he was working, and is returning to Portland this week.

In a brief interview, he said his son has contemplated suicide for about six months because of an unspecified mental illness. He didn’t say what hospital treated Koben Henriksen after police encountered him earlier.

The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office and Portland police said in separate statements that they couldn’t confirm whether officers had recently interacted with Henriksen and sent him to a hospital.

“Furthermore, it would be inappropriate for us to publicly discuss the facts and/or circumstances of this case or to address the scope of this ongoing investigation,” District Attorney Office spokesman Brent Weisberg said by email.

Police have released few details about the timeline surrounding the shooting, including whether Henriksen had a knife. They identified Justin Raphael as the officer who fired the fatal shots. He carried a rifle, according to witness accounts and dispatch calls. Officer Daniel Leonard fired less-lethal foam-tipped projectiles from a 40mm launcher.

Police said officers tried to provide medical aid to Henriksen but he died at the scene.

Witness accounts described Henriksen wandering in traffic.

Robert Vervloet, who was at a nearby Starbucks, and a father and son working at a food truck, said they saw Henriksen move toward officers after they pulled up in their cars.

Vervloet said he saw an officer with a rifle immediately point it at Henriksen. The dispatch recording and witnesses indicated officers fired just seconds after arriving.

“There was no negotiation,” Vervloet said. “There was no “Hey buddy, we need to talk about this.’”

He said he didn’t understand why police used deadly force so quickly when they could have helped a man who was obviously suffering a mental health crisis.

An audit released last month found that Multomah County is struggling to delivering its mental health services to individuals like Henriksen who have serious and persistent mental illnesses.

The system has been strained by rising housing costs and a small supply of residential treatment facilities and local supported housing programs -- all of which have long waitlists.

The county serves less than half of the people who could benefit from the county’s most intensive mental health services – those who have been civilly committed or are at risk of civil commitment.

In a civil commitment, a judge can order an individual to receive mental health treatment or go to a psychiatric hospital for up to 180 days. Before a person is civilly committed, they are often put on short “involuntary holds” at hospitals.

But the bar for state-ordered commitment is high -- one must be imminently dangerous to themselves or others or unable to take care of basic personal needs in a way that poses a serious risk.

The Oregonian/Oregonlive will continue to report this story.

-- Emily Goodykoontz; 503-221-6652; egoodykoontz@oregonian.com