By Eric Olson, Durham Herald-Sun (North Carolina)
DURHAM, N.C. - The man a Durham police officer shot in the driveway of a southern Durham home Wednesday evening was trying to commit suicide by police, the man’s sister said.
Mark Alan Gunter, 40, of 1227 Carpenter Fletcher Road, suffered a single gunshot wound to the pelvis, which lodged in his body and required surgery at Duke University Hospital Wednesday night.
Gunter remains in intensive care, but is expected to survive the wound, his sister said.
Durham police, meanwhile, identified the officer who shot Gunter as Cpl. Eric Weaver, who is on administrative leave with pay while the shooting is being investigated.
Police officers were called to the house by a relative who said a man was threatening to harm himself with a knife, police said. When officers arrived around 7:38 p.m., they found Gunter standing in the driveway with a gun in each hand.
Weaver opened fire on Gunter when he refused to drop the guns and approached him, police said.
Gunter’s sister, who asked to remain anonymous, said her brother was not trying to attack the officers. She said the guns he was holding were powder guns, or antique weapons similar to those used in the Old West.
“He wasn’t there to hurt the police. He just wanted them to turn on him. He was just tired of life,” she said. “He wasn’t after them, he was going toward them. He really wanted them to kill him.”
Gunter has been in and out of hospitals for treatment of his mental problems about 20 times in the past 18 years, his sister said.
Yet doctors at those facilities, such as Duke University Hospital, Durham Regional Hospital and John Umstead Hospital, have never diagnosed Gunter’s condition, she said.
“He’s had problems after problems,” the 35-year-old woman said. “But they never kept him for over 30 days. They have never named nothing. They never will.”
Police reports indicate officers responded to the house on Nov. 11, 2000, the last time Gunter tried to commit suicide, his sister said.
She said it all began when Gunter and his wife separated 18 years ago.
“When pressure starts coming ? he just can’t deal with it,” she said. “Depression brought it on [Wednesday] night and he was drinking.”
Police had not filed charges against Gunter by Thursday evening.
“He is a tenderhearted person and he just wants someone to take care of the pain,” his sister said. “He’s never tried to hurt me or my mom or anyone else. It’s just always himself. I know today he’s regretting life, he always is.”