Brother of Joliet police shooting victim said he 'didn't have to lose his life'

The older brother of a man who was shot and killed by a Joliet police officer said his brother “didn’t have to lose his life.”

Seneca Carter, 41, said he believed police poorly handled the incident where his brother, Bruce Carter, 38, fatally was shot by an officer Feb. 6 at his home on South Des Plaines Street. The officer went to his home as part of an investigation of a bank robbery.

Marcello Carter, 37, Bruce Carter’s younger brother, and his longtime friend, Melissa Boatman, 36, also have criticized the shooting. Both doubt he was at the bank for a robbery or that he attacked the officer.

“He didn’t have to lose his life,” Seneca Carter said of his brother.

The Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force is investigating the shooting. Seneca Carter claimed that the task force has yet to speak with Grace Vann, his mother, since Feb. 6. She was at the home when the shooting occurred. He said the agency reached out to him Monday and Thursday.

Ken Kroll, chairman of the agency, said in an email Thursday that the investigation is ongoing and “we’re not inclined to make any statements for the time being.”

Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner failed to return calls Thursday.

Seneca Carter said he learned from Vann that a man who turned out to be a police officer entered her home without identifying himself and asked for Bruce Carter.

He said Vann is confined to a wheelchair and her caregiver didn’t know who the officer was referring to because Bruce Carter goes by his nickname, “June.”

Seneca Carter said Vann had asked the officer who he was, but he never identified himself or said he was with the Joliet police. He said when Bruce Carter came downstairs to speak with the officer, his brother repeatedly asked the officer, “Why?”

Seneca Carter said his brother and the officer apparently moved to the porch area of the home, where Vann and the caregiver couldn’t see him. He said Vann heard her son keep asking the officer, “Why?” and she never heard him “get aggressive.”

“The cop was sounding like he was getting agitated because he kept asking, ‘Why?’ ” Seneca Carter said.

Seneca Carter said Vann then heard four shots.

“It was like bop, bop, bop, bop. … My brother hit the floor,” he said.

Roechner said in a Facebook post that Bruce Carter attacked the officer while holding a “box cutter”-type knife and the officer was “forced to act” to “stop the threat.”

Seneca Carter said if his brother did have a knife, it likely was a tool from his job.