Man shot by
police says he ‘never
intended to kill’

Sua is accused of trying
to stab one officer and
threatening others

By Susan Kreifels
Star-Bulletin

Robert Sua says he is glad to be alive.

But on Feb. 6, 1997, his life meant nothing to him as he was surrounded by police officers with their guns drawn, Sua testified in his own trial yesterday.

"I wanted them to shoot me so bad, I just walked straight to the barrel of the gun," said Sua, maintaining a soft voice throughout his testimony and often talking directly to the jurors. "I never intended to kill anybody.

"I felt everybody was against me. I couldn't handle living my life. I had so many problems inside.... What I did was wrong."

Sua, 20, is charged with first-degree attempted murder for allegedly trying to stab a police officer who shot him five times. He also is charged with the terroristic threatening of five police officers who were called to his Waipahu home after Sua, who was drunk, and his neighbors argued.

In earlier testimony, police officers said Sua chased them with a knife in each hand and yelled, "I'm going to take me out a cop."

The defense says Sua was depressed and suicidal because he felt he could never escape his and his brothers' criminal records, and that he only wanted to die, not kill anyone.

Sua said yesterday that his desperation lifted after spending two weeks on suicide watch while he recovered from the gun wounds. Counselors kept telling him "you are a miracle" for surviving the gunshots, he said.

"I was put there for a purpose," Sua said, repeating comments from counselors. "The man upstairs said it wasn't my time to die. I'm happy to be alive."

Sua credited his life to one police officer who kept telling the other officers at the scene not to shoot.

But an officer finally did shoot after tripping backward onto the ground and seeing Sua coming toward him with knives raised.

Another officer testified that Sua fell onto the officer who shot him, then raised his arm over his head and tried to stab the officer in the chest.

Sua said that didn't happen.

"I took one step and felt a shot in the forearm," Sua said. "I kept going forward and felt another shot and went down. Everything went black.

"I never stabbed anybody when I was falling. I never planned or intended to hurt anybody."

Deputy Prosecutor Jean Ireton asked Sua if he wanted to make police think he would hurt them.

"I wanted them to think I was going to use the knife so they would blast me," he said.

Before being shot, Sua said, he visited a neighbor to tell her baby good-bye. He testified that when he was holding the baby outside, he had his knives down the front of his pants so he wouldn't hurt the infant.

Officer Brian Branco, a prosecution witness, testified that Sua had a knife pointed at the baby's neck. But the officer said he didn't see Sua make any stabbing motions.

Under questioning by the defense, Branco said union attorneys told the officers at the scene not to speak to anyone about the incident or make any reports until later. Branco wrote his report on Feb. 22, more than two weeks after the shooting.

Branco said he copied portions of a report written by an officer who had stood next to him at the scene.

When asked if that was normal procedure, Branco said, "It seemed at the time a lot easier."

Attorneys are expected to give closing statements Monday.