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The night before Cody Evans was shot to death by police in Utah County, he was planning a date for Valentine's weekend and chatting with friends.
"He was the happiest he'd ever been," said Evans' brother Glenn Bourque as tears dripped down his cheeks Monday. "I just don't understand."
As Evans' family and friends gathered Monday night at a candlelight vigil in Provo's Pioneer Park, many were mystified as to how the Springville 24-year-old's carefree Saturday night transformed into a deadly Sunday, starting with a domestic violence report from his wife and ending in a showdown with police, who shot Evans as he allegedly brandished an airsoft replica of an AR-15.
"It wasn't supposed to happen like this," said friend Tanna Deason.
Bourque said he was with Evans and Evans' wife Saturday night. The couple had separated but remained close, and were planning a date to a monster trucks exhibition, Bourque said.
But at 7:59 a.m. Sunday, Evans' wife made a "chaotic" 911 call, reporting a "domestic violence incident" at her home, near 1300 West and 1500 North in Provo, said Provo police Lt. Brandon Post. The woman said Evans had a BB gun and was going to attempt to commit "suicide by cop," police said.
"It looks real," the woman said of the black replica assault rifle. Evans was "going to use it when officers pull him over" to force police to shoot him, the woman told dispatchers.
Officers soon found Evans inside his truck at the end of a cul-de-sac near Paul Ream Wilderness Park, near 1600 West and 500 North in Provo. He refused to speak to them but displayed a black rifle and racked it, making "a distinct 'metal on metal' sound," police wrote in a statement Monday.
That sound led officers to fear the rifle was real and not the airsoft replica described by Evans' wife, police wrote. The officers got out ballistic shields while Evans threatened to shoot them and ram their cruisers if they didn't let him go, police wrote. Officers laid spike strips on the road to prevent Evans from fleeing, but he drove over a nearby lawn to avoid them, police wrote.
Officers briefly chased Evans but deemed the pursuit too dangerous and called it off after Evans allegedly ran a red light and crossed into oncoming traffic lanes, "threatening to ram an officer," police wrote.
While officers searched for Evans, investigators at his wife's house found a realistic airsoft replica of a hunting-style rifle, raising even more concern that the gun Evans had in his truck was a real firearm.According to the press statement by police, one of the officers who was searching for Evans said: "When he racked the rifle, it didn't sound like a pellet gun. Do you think that's the fake one and maybe he has another one?"
The officer who found the gun at Evans' wife's house said he didn't know.
At about 9:30 a.m., officers found Evans' truck at a home near 1800 West 600 South.
There, officers saw Evans leave an outbuilding wearing a "tactical vest and a holster," police wrote. He wasn't carrying the rifle but "gestured like he was pointing a handgun at them." Officers took cover behind a vehicle while Evans ran to his truck, pulled out an AR-15-style rifle and "pointed it directly at officers."
"Fearing for their lives, officers engaged Evans with a total of three rounds from approximately 100 feet away," the release said. Evans died at the scene.
Investigators later determined the rifle was an airsoft. An orange tip on the muzzle of the rifle, designed to differentiate an airsoft gun from a firearm, apparently had been removed, police wrote.
"It doesn't make any sense," said William Crocker, another brother of Evans. "They knew it was fake. His wife told him from the start it was fake, and what he was planning to do with it, but they still ended up shooting him."
Crocker said the family has received no information from police as to why they thought the airsoft gun at Evans' wife's house belonged to Evans, or whether they asked his wife about a potential second airsoft gun or the likelihood he was carrying a firearm.
"I don't think he even knew how to shoot a real gun," Crocker said, recalling that Evans had declined Crocker's invitations to go target shooting. Evans had taken up airsoft shooting and often joined friends on Sundays, said Ashley Crocker, Evans' sister-in-law, who said the "tactical vest" was actually a fishing vest he used to carry gear on his airsoft shooting outings.
Wiliam Crocker said the family is hiring a lawyer to get to the bottom questions left by Evans' death.
"They didn't protect and serve no one," he said. "They shot first and decided to think whether they did it right later on."
Provo police Chief John King on Monday posted a Facebook message saying he was "thankful," both as a police chief and a Provo resident, that "when called to respond to a dangerous situation, members of the Utah Valley law enforcement agencies deliberately placed themselves in harm's way to keep the people of our county safe."
Provo police have received death threats because of the shooting, KUTV 2News reported.
King said that with "all the recent criticisms of police tactics and use of force on their minds, these officers and deputies could have shied away from their sworn duty to protect, but they did not hesitate when called."
"They reacted as they were trained and showed great restraint during this stressful and highly charged incident. The suspect was repeatedly given opportunities to peacefully surrender and stop his destructive behavior. Instead he pointed the realistic looking assault rifle at the officers and forced the final action."
After the shooting, officers searched the outbuilding that Evans had exited and found actual firearms inside, police said.
The two officers involved in the shooting were identified Monday as Provo police Officer Zac Lazenby and Utah County Sheriff's Deputy Chris Bagley. Lazenby has eight years of law enforcement experience and Bagley has 15 years, police said.
Neither officer had a body camera, police said.
King said any time the police use deadly force "it is appropriate for the public to question the need for such action." He said the shooting was being investigated by the Utah County attorney's office, and that the Provo police department will conduct an internal administrative investigation. Both officers were placed on administrative leave.
Asked Monday what precipitated Evans' alleged actions, Post replied: "That's the million-dollar question."
Ashley Crocker said Evans showed no sign he was depressed.
"If he was, he hid it well," she said.
A year ago, Evans was involved in a domestic-violence-related assault at the home where his estranged wife still lives, according to court records.
In November, Evans entered a no-contest plea in abeyance to one count of class A misdemeanor assault in 4th District Court. In exchange for the plea, charges of criminal mischief, damaging a communication device and domestic violence in the presence of a child were dismissed.
Evans was ordered to spend 10 days in jail, pay a $300 court fee and complete any treatment recommended by the Division of Child and Family Services. A protective order issued in conjunction with the case was modified to allow contact with the victim, but Evans was barred from making domestic-violence threats and he was to have no weapons in his home, according to the court docket.
The assault case was to be dismissed in November 2015, providing Evans complied with the court's orders and had no new criminal violations.
Marinda Smith said there was more than that to Evans, a longtime friend who once carried her on his shoulders for more than a mile after she injured her ankle skateboarding with him. She said he was "a great father" to his three children.
"Cody had his ups and downs, but so do we all," said family friend Joe Bates. "He was a good kid. It's just a shame."
Evans' family has set up a GoFundMe account asking for help paying for funeral costs. Information posted with the account says Evans "enjoyed being outdoors and spending time with his family and his kids. ... Cody will be greatly missed and deserves a proper burial."
The Provo shooting marks the fourth fatal police-involved shooting in Utah this year.