Police in Texas shot and killed a man early Tuesday in what authorities described as a “confrontation” with the officers, according to news reports.

The fatal victim, identified by his family as 27-year-old Ashton Pinke, allegedly lunged at officers with “a club” — which relatives said was a walking stick, according to the Dallas Morning News. 

Pinke’s family said the father of four suffered from mental health problems, including schizophrenia, the outlet reported. 

“Unfortunately, the lack of a proper response by the Mesquite Police Department ended in Ashton being shot and killed,” Justin Moore, a civil rights attorney hired by Pinke’s family, said in a statement, DFW-TV reported.

“By all accounts, Ashton was not armed with a gun or deadly weapon to justify the use of lethal force by officers on the scene.”

The fatal shooting in Mesquite took place around 7:45 a.m. after police said they received a 911 call for what appeared to be an assault, CBS affiliate DFW reported.

“In the background we could hear screaming and it sounded like somebody being assaulted,” police said at a briefing at the scene.

The call was cut off but a dispatcher traced it to the Audubon Park Apartments.

“There was some type of confrontation and our officers used force and they fired their weapons and the suspect was struck,” a police sergeant, who was not identified, told reporters.

“The officers attempted to do life-saving techniques,” he said. “The ambulance was dispatched at which point they took over, transported the suspect to the hospital, where he was ultimately pronounced deceased.”

Police said a woman at the scene, identified as a victim, declined to be taken to the hospital but was checked by paramedics at the scene and allowed to leave.

The department spokesman said the officers fired “multiple times,” adding that the shooting involved two officers who were not identified.