It was supposed to be a typical Tuesday on July 29 for the Porter family: dinner at the Village Squire in Crystal Lake followed by movie night at Regal Showplace.

“We are in the booth in the back,” mom Christy Porter texts in the group chat with her husband Michael to her 32-year-old son Michael Jake Porter. “We ordered you a burger.”

Those were the last text messages sent to her son, who went by his middle name Jake. Within a few minutes of the family making their movie-night plans, a string of what his parents say were worst-case-scenario misunderstandings took place that led to Jake Porter dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. That happened after he was reported to police for brandishing a gun in a neighborhood near the Fel-Pro RRR Conservation Area in Cary, officials reported.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office had responded to a call at about 3:25 p.m. in the area of Fox River and North Harvest Glen roads near Cary for a report of two teen girls being approached by a “suspicious man,” Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said in a news release at the time.

The two teens were walking when a sedan, driven by Porter, “pulled in front of them, parked in the direction they were walking and exited wearing a mask,” Covelli said in the release. The girls ran toward the home of one of the girls and notified her father and older brother.

The father and brother drove through the subdivision and found the car when Porter reportedly blocked their path, and it was that point that he “brandished a firearm,” Covelli said. A 911 call was placed, dispatching the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office to the scene.

That mask was more than likely a medical mask for COVID-19, since Porter always wore one because he was wary of germs, his parents said. They don’t know why he approached the girls.

Porter, who graduated from Prairie Ridge High School, lived on the autism spectrum, and was high-functioning, Christy said. His parents described him as intelligent, funny and witty, but “it was hard for him to connect with people,” Michael said. He was known for his gift-giving skills, and his deep love for his family.

“He was our every day,” Christy said. “His absence is a giant hole in everything.”

Porter’s greatest passion was movies, especially Marvel movies. Name any movie, and Porter could say who starred in it, directed it and how much it cost to make, Michael said. The movie they were supposed to see the day Porter died was “Fantastic Four: First Steps.”

“We just want people to know the wonderful person he was,” Christy said. “He’s 100% opposite what people think.”

Porter’s parents imagined that he was scared by the two men chasing him and showed the gun out of fear.

His father said it was “a gun that we didn’t know he owned. We didn’t want him owning a firearm.”

Porter, who lived with his parents in Cary, was known to be “very afraid of road rage,” and lived with severe anxiety, Christy said. Her and Michael have talked to him what to do during a traffic stop, but never anticipated this scenario.

After the 911 call was place, a sheriff’s deputy and a McHenry County Conservation District police officer located Porter and tried to pull over his car in a parking lot in the area of Crystal Lake Road and Foxford Drive, near the conservation area.

“The driver of the car retrieved the firearm and shot himself,“ Covelli said in the release. ”Lifesaving efforts were attempted, and he was transported to an area hospital in Lake County, where he was subsequently pronounced deceased.”

The Lake County Coroner’s Office said preliminary findings showed he died of a gunshot wound to the neck.

“There are questions that will never be able to be answered, including why Mr. Porter was armed with a firearm and why he pulled his vehicle in front of the two teens and exited,” Covelli said in a Monday email to the Northwest Herald.

Porter’s parents want to answer the questions that can be answered, like what kind of character he had. They hope to clear his name, noting some reports described him as having attempted a kidnapping in his final moments.

“He’s not here to tell his side what happened,” Michael said. “We just can’t have him go down in history as a kidnapper.”

The Porters do not blame police or anyone involved in the situations that Christy Porter described as “a series of the worst possible things that could have happened.”

Their son, she said, “made a desperate and terrible decision.”

No criminal charges will be filed related to the incident. Porter also had a Firearm Owner’s Identification card, Covelli said.

“This was an incredibly sad and tragic situation for everyone involved,” Covelli said in an email. “From the teens who believed they were about to be abducted, to the family of Mr. Porter, to the law enforcement personnel who witnessed Mr. Porter take his life, this is not a situation anyone wished to be part of.”

Porter’s parents hope their story can prevent this from happening again to another family with a member living with autism or anxiety. Their message for parents is to make sure children know that there are always solutions.

“Anxiety tricks your mind,” Michael Porter said. “Don’t kill yourself over something that never happened.”