Shooter Shawn Bryan's mother speaks to 22News

WESTBURY, N.Y. (WWLP) - Hours after the deadly shooting of Officer Kevin Ambrose , we learned the suspect, Shawn Bryan, was a corrections officer in New York City. 22News traveled to his Long Island hometown to dig a little deeper, and we spoke with his mother, who says there are two sides to every story.

Eldene King says that she is the reason her son, 35 year-old Shawn Bryan, was in Springfield on Monday.

“I advised him and he listened to me, and he lost his life because he went to Springfield to see his daughter,” King said.

Bryan is the man police say killed Springfield Officer Kevin Ambrose and seriously injured his ex-girlfriend, Charlene Mitchell, before fatally shooting himself in the chest.

After the tragedy, 22News traveled to New York to learn more about the suspected killer. We know he lived in an apartment on Wendell Street in Hempstead, and he worked as a corrections officer on Rikers Island . 22News traveled to both places, but wasn't allowed on either property.

Then, we tracked down the Westbury neighborhood where he spent a lot of his time, and found King’s house. The grieving mother didn't immediately accept our interview, but finally decided that she wanted her son's story told.

“He sent child support for the baby. He took care of the baby. He died because of his child. Shawn has a perfect record. He never was involved with the law, he never got arrested, he doesn't drink, he don't smoke, and he was my best friend,” she said.

King says her son was upset about his girlfriend not letting him see their one-year-old daughter Savannah, so she told him to go to Springfield.

“I says to him, Shawn, go and get visitation rights from the courts and he said that's what he was going to do.”

King says she is numb after finding out the trip cost him his life.

When she learned he was suspected of killing a police officer - she didn't believe it.

“He's in law enforcement and I know he would never do that, and he would never die and leave Savannah. This is why he was there, for Savannah. So why would he take his own life and take another officers life?” King said.

King told 22News that she is skeptical about the details of the shooting. She said she plans to hire a lawyer to investigate further.