YOUNGSTOWN — A sister of “Ricky” Frederick P. Howk III, 33, of Austintown, the man who stole the gun of a Mercy Health police officer a week ago in the emergency department at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital and used it on himself, says her brother’s mental health issues mostly started a year ago.

“A lot of this started in October of last year, where we started keeping tabs on him. Then in December he disappeared to North Carolina. I have no idea how he got there. Hallucinations led him there,” she said. She does not live locally.

He was brought back to the Youngstown area and started counseling.

“Suicide was never on his list,” she said of issues he faced. “He has two boys that he absolutely loves.

“I’m very upset emotionally, and I’m numb right now,” she said Wednesday by telephone. “I’ve been doing nothing but making calls and arrangements and trying to get his belongings and taking care of his apartment and his children and (funeral) arrangements and death certificates and everything else,” she said.

The woman, who asked not to have her name published because of the type of work she does, said many things have upset her about the way her brother died, but the biggest is that the officer whose gun her brother took was not aware of the possibility that Howk would steal his gun.

She said the Youngstown police detective she spoke with on Wednesday said her brother took the gun while the officer was talking to multiple nurses at a desk of the secured behavioral-health unit within the hospital’s emergency department.

She said her brother and the Mercy Health police officer were not in a separate room from other people. Her brother was in a bed and not supposed to move around in the unit, but he was able to because the officer did not notice him, she said.

“No one was watching him. They should be watching him,” she said.

Howk’s sister also is upset that Howk was discharged from St. Joseph Warren Hospital, also a Mercy Health facility, a day before he went to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

Her sister, who lives locally, went to the Warren hospital after Howk got himself there. Her sister asked St. Joseph Warren Hospital not to discharge him, but they did, the sister from outside the area said.

“He was hallucinating and everything else,” she said.

They gave him a prescription for a central nervous system depressant.

“He wanted help. He went to two hospitals in two days in less than 24 hours,” the sister from outside the area said. He knew the routine, packing clothes and shoes approved for a behavioral health unit — no strings and no belt, she said.

She said her brother “thought he was on a mission from God. He thought he was God.” His drug screen was negative, she said.

A Mercy Health spokesperson, who was asked for comment regarding Howk’s sister’s remarks about the hospital police officer, responded: “We are deeply saddened by this heartbreaking incident. We extend our deepest sympathy and support to the family and all who have been impacted by this tragedy.”

Youngstown Police Capt. Jason Simon of the detective division said he would not be able to comment on the details of the investigation. He stated in a Tuesday news release that the Youngstown Police Department is investigating the “disarming of the Mercy Health police officer.”

The sister who does not live locally said her brother was at work Aug. 27, the day before he died, and he left work “to get an energy drink.” But he called a co-worker and said he was “exhausted” and was going home.

She knows he did not go home because she and her sister tracked him on a phone app. He went to Mosquito Lake State Park and walked around. She notified Howk’s boss, who went to get him because of Howk’s history of mental illness, she said. But Howk refused to take help and walked away and then called for an ambulance, which took him to St. Joseph Warren Hospital, she said.

The hospital released him to Howk’s sister who lives locally and she took him to her home. That night, he walked away from her house and went home, then started walking again. A police officer picked him up and took him to St. Elizabeth’s, where he was admitted to the behavioral health care side of the emergency room, the sister from outside the area stated.

The family of “Ricky” Fredrick P. Howk III has established a GoFundMe account to raise money for funeral and other expenses. Any money left over will go into a trust fund for Howk’s two sons.

The gofundme post can be viewed at gofund.me/both.hang.male.

The Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board urges anyone experiencing mental health and substance-use issues to call 211. Duane Piccirilli, Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board executive director, says it is important to remember that “mental health care is health care.”