LACON - A Marshall County sheriff's deputy shot and killed a man who authorities said was suicidal and lunged at officers with a knife, something disputed by family witnesses.

State's Attorney Paul Bauer is waiting for the completion of the investigation before determining whether the Sunday shooting of Scott Sheets Jr., 23, of Lacon was justified. The father, Scott Sheets, also wants some answers.

"We're just waiting to see how it will be handled before we do anything," Sheets said Monday. The father said he was standing on the rural road with his son, other relatives, Deputy Wayne Strawn and a Lacon police officer when Strawn shot his son three times, killing him.

"He (Sheets) just wanted to kill himself," said the father. "He didn't want to hurt anyone else."

The son asked what would happen if he moved forward, "but it wasn't like he said 'I'm going to stab you' or 'I'm going to kill you.' He just moved forward. He was asking for help. He wasn't asking to be shot three times in the chest and killed," the elder Sheets said.

State police are handling the investigation. A formal statement says Strawn and another officer arrived at the scene when Sheets, "wielding a knife to his throat," then "lunged" at Strawn.

The father initially called police because Sheets, who had been acting suicidal and wasn't taking prescribed medications, left home with a knife and said he was going to kill himself.

Family members, following Strawn, were able to get him to pull over on the rural road.

Sheets was 10 feet away from the officers and made no threatening movement toward them when he was shot, the father said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.