TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- The nephew of a man who was fatally shot by Topeka police officers last week said his uncle was suffering from depression and likely wanted to be shot.
Bruce Cain, 50, of Topeka, died around 5 a.m. Thursday after being shot when he got out of his pickup truck with what appeared to be a gun in his hand. Police said Cain refused to obey officers' demands and making a threatening move toward them.
"The gun he brandished wasn't a real gun," Matthew Evertson told The Topeka Capital-Journal on Saturday. "It was suicide by cop."
Evertson said he went to the newspaper because he felt the need to let people know his uncle was not a bad person, but instead someone who was going through some personal problems.
"I wish more details would be reported and stop making my uncle look like a criminal as opposed to sick," Evertson said. "He was sick. Not bad.
"They are cops -- they see someone with a gun and they act accordingly, but they weren't in any direct danger. There was no way for them to know that."
Police responded early Thursday morning to the report of a suspicious vehicle and stopped Cain's pickup truck. Evertson said police told him that the initial report was made from a cell phone Cain had with him when he was shot.
Police Chief Ron Miller said he couldn't comment on the shooting because it was being investigated by the Shawnee County Sheriff's Office.
A sheriff's report issued Friday identifies three Topeka police officers as victims of an aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer.
"I spoke to the officers on Friday," Miller said. "They are doing fairly well under the circumstances."
Evertson, who described his uncle as a smart man who had been struggling with personal issues, said word of Cain's shooting came as a shock.
According to Shawnee County District Court records, Cain failed to appear for a criminal trial the day before his death. He had been facing four misdemeanor counts of violating a protection order.
Evertson said his uncle was a single father who lived with his 16-year-old son. He said Cain worked most of his life as an electrician at Goodyear in Topeka.
Published: Tue, Jan 18, 2011
