A dramatic situation early Saturday morning in the Muldoon Canyon area led to the shooting death of a 42-year-old Bellevue man.
The Blaine County Sheriff's Office reported Monday that William David Kane wanted police to shoot him, but when they wouldn't oblige, he shot himself instead.
Kane was pronounced dead at St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center at 7:02 a.m. that morning. Blaine County Coroner Russell Mikel said the cause of death was a "self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head."
Kane leaves behind a wife and four children. Answers about why he wanted to die were not immediately available. However, the sheriff's office reported that it was the second time Kane had sought "suicide by police."
Lt. Jay Davis said deputies were called to a disturbance at Kane's home in October. No guns were involved, and deputies were able to calm Kane down, but Davis said that "at that time, he was talking about suicide by police."
"This time, he tried to get that done," Davis said.
Police involvement in the Saturday morning incident started shortly before 4 a.m., Davis said, when Kane called the emergency dispatch center, reported that he was in the Muldoon Canyon area about a mile east of Bellevue and that he was going to shoot himself.
When Sgt. Corey Weatherly and Deputy Skip Liddle arrived at the scene, Kane's wife was there, having arrived in a separate vehicle, and was trying to find Kane, Davis said.
Weatherly then used a light and spotted Kane standing by a barn on E-Da-Ho Ranch property.
"When Corey hit him with the light, he pointed a gun at Corey and said, 'Kill me, kill me,'" Davis said. "Corey heard him say it twice."
Davis said Kane then fired a shot, not directly at the officers, but in their direction. The officers took cover and lost sight of Kane, but his wife ran toward him, putting herself between Kane and police.
"Corey's trying to get her to come back to him, but she won't do it," Davis said.
The officers then heard five shots quickly fired by Kane, followed by a sixth and final shot, Davis said.
"His wife and him had some words in the area of the barn and then he shot himself," Davis said. "The wife was crawling back to her vehicle and was hysterical because he had shot himself right in front of her."
The whole episode only lasted a few minutes after police arrived, and Davis said the officers had no time or opportunity to intercede.
Kane was taken to the hospital by Wood River Fire and Rescue ambulance. Mikel said Kane was loaded onto an emergency helicopter at the hospital but was returned to the facility after he suffered cardiac arrest.
A memorial service is scheduled for Thursday, March 11, at 1 p.m. at the Hailey LDS Church cultural hall.
An obituary for Kane—which can be read on Page B2—describes him as an artist, a body builder and a man whose "greatest joy was being with his family."
He had a "wonderful sense of humor" and was a "generous and loving soul," the obituary states.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com
William David Kane
