A knife-wielding Bronx man who was shot and killed by police in a harrowing clash on the support cables of the Brooklyn Bridge was an unemployed welder with no history of mental illness, his grieving mother told the Daily News.
Chaun Bottom, 42, was shot after a long standoff with members of the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit as he approached officers with his knife drawn hundreds of feet above the East River around 3:30 a.m. Friday, cops said.
Cops had spent an hour trying to talk him down off the bridge cables before he approached them with a knife, officials said.
Bottom told police, “I want you to kill me. I have a bomb. You’re not going to make me do something bad to the cops,” before officers opened fire as he approached within 3 feet, his knife extended, Assistant Chief Gerard Dowling, the commanding officer of ESU, said Friday.
But the man’s mother, Deborah Bottom, 68, told the Daily News that none of it makes any sense to her.
“How does he end up going from the Bronx to the Brooklyn Bridge?” she said. “My son wasn’t depressed. My son had no mental health issues. He wasn’t on any medication. My son had no mental health issues, none at all.”
Bottom’s mom said she last spoke to her son on Aug. 29 and that she stayed up all night Thursday trying to reach him after he fell out of contact. Another son, who lives out of state, called her Friday morning with news of his death.
“My son in Minnesota called me and said, ‘Sit down, Mom. Chaun is dead,” Deborah said. “My son doesn’t do drugs, and he’s never been in trouble with the law.”
The NYPD could not immediately confirm whether Bottom had a criminal record or had any interactions with the police prior to the incident on the Brooklyn Bridge.
Bottom attended a trade school at 16, earning his master welder certification. He was formerly employed by a construction company, but hadn’t worked for the last five years, according to his mother.
“He lost work when Trump got elected,” she said. “He was never fired. He was never laid off.”
The grieving mom said her son suffered from frequent migraines, but didn’t let the affliction affect his work.
“Chaun had migraines since he was a kid, since he was 5 years old,” Deborah said. “They got worse as he got older.”
Bottom’s mother said when she met with detectives Friday, she was shown a picture of the weapon her son allegedly wielded, which she said was “like a pocket knife.”
“That was nothing compared to the knife the Hispanic lady had in Times Square,” Deborah said. “Where was the bomb? They’re making stuff up.”
Dowling said police were investigating the man’s claims that he had a bomb, but would not say if any bomb materials were found on him.
“My son is a good boy,” Deborah said. “I know parents say that all the time, but my son was a good son. My son worked and didn’t hang out in the street. He was trying to buy a condo.”
After shooting Bottom, officers rendered aid until medics arrived and rushed him to Bellevue Hospital, where he died.
Cops recovered his knife and a flashlight that he dropped, officials said.
Bottom lived in Parkchester and was described by his next-door neighbor as a quiet man who kept to himself.
“That’s crazy. I wouldn’t even imagine that,” Nicole, 30, said of her neighbor’s shooting death. “I don’t have a relationship with him, but because I live right here, it’s really sad. I feel really bad.”
Friday’s bridge incident was the second time this week cops were forced to shoot an armed suspect, officials said. On Monday, police fatally shot Pamela Cisneros, 49, in Times Square after she stabbed two people, one fatally, then refused officers’ orders to drop two knives she was grasping and lunged toward them.