By RUTH BROWN, Idaho Falls Post Register (Idaho)

In a soft and even tone, the mother of suspected gunman Scott Daniel Parker called the Idaho Falls/Bonneville County dispatch center Oct. 14 to warn authorities her son was armed and dangerous and talking about committing “suicide by cop.”

Parker, 31, was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with Idaho Falls police officers that played out on First Street eight days ago. He faces multiple felony charges.

The Idaho Falls Police Department released a recording of the 911 call – made by a woman who identified herself as Parker’s mother, Laura Ballard – to the Post Register on Friday night. The newspaper had requested a tran-script and/or copy of the recording Thursday.

In the recording, which lasts eight minutes and 27 seconds, Ballard tells a dispatcher that she’s worried her son might harm members of her family or police officers.

“”I’m just really scared of what he might do,”” Ballard said, “”and I don’t want any officers to get hurt. … I don’t want my grandson to get hurt, and I don’t want (my daughter’s) husband to get hurt.

“”He needs help. He needs to be locked up. He needs to get some help,”” Ballard said. “”He is not in a good place. Something bad is gonna happen, and I just feel it. I just know something is going to happen.””

The call came into the dispatch center at 7:50 p.m., less than 30 minutes before authorities said Parker stuck an assault rifle out the window of his car and fired at police officers.

Earlier in the day, Ballard told the police dispatcher, her son had threatened he would die “suicide by cop” if she called authorities. Ballard said that earlier in the day, her son not only had threatened to kill himself but also his father.

Ballard also told the dispatcher that her son was carrying guns in his car and that he had assaulted a police officer years earlier.

“He has a felony (on his record) of an assault on a police officer (in Fremont County),” she said. “At one point … he stabbed himself and tried to attack the police officer when he came to stop it. He’s been to prison I don’t know how many times.”

Ballard apparently was referring to a Feb. 23, 2003, incident in St. Anthony when Parker attempted to stab a law enforcement officer and threatened suicide, according to Fremont County records.

During the 911 call, she said her son had been on pain medications related to medical issues. “He ran out of pain pills two days ago,” she said.

Later in the call, Ballard said, “I don’t know what kind of drugs he’s on. He could have stopped and got something else today, but he is just not stable.”

She told the dispatcher that her son “texted me that he” was going to her daughter’s home at 350 Falls Drive. She said she feared for the safety of her son-in-law and 1-year-old grandson, who were at the home. Her daughter was still at work.

“I had Ramon (her son-in-law) lock the door and go to the basement,” Ballard said. “So he’s in the basement with the baby. And I told Heather (her daughter) not to go home.”

Ballard said she knew her son was suicidal and a risk to the public.

“”What if someone pulled him over and he shot the person that pulled him over. I mean it’s just – he is mentally not OK,”” she said. “”He needs help bad; and I don’t want him to take anyone with him.”” Ballard also offered the police dispatcher some advice on how to approach her son.

She urged that police not turn on their sirens as they approached the Falls Drive home where her son was still sitting in the driveway inside his car.

“Go in really soft so nobody gets hurt,” she said, adding later that the house was located in a “kind of cul-de-sac so (police) might want to park around the corner because he will see them if they pull around that corner.”

Parker is charged with two counts of aggravated assault against certain personnel with a deadly weapon enhancement, three felony counts of illegal possession of a firearm and one count of eluding.

Each count of aggravated assault against certain personnel carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and must be served consecutively to any sentence being currently served. The deadly weapon enhancement adds an additional 15 years.

Each count of unlawful possession of a firearm carries a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.

Eluding carries a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison. His next court appearance has not been scheduled. To hear a recording of the 911 call received by authorities the night of Oct. 14, visit www.postregister.com/special/audio/20111014_911call.mp3.