Garrett Michael Ryan

Garrett Michael Ryan, 30, of Sullivan was shot and killed by police on the shoulder of Interstate 44. Sullivan police and a Franklin County deputy had been summoned for an irate man walking in and along I-44 near Sullivan. Authorities said police shot Ryan after he "started coming" at the officers with a knife. But a liquor store clerk who saw the confrontation insists that account is wrong. Business was slow at the liquor store Saturday night, so clerk Christopher Wilson stepped outside for a break on the parking lot that faces Interstate 44. "It was directly in front of me," Wilson told the Post-Dispatch. "There is no way this gentleman was armed when he was shot." Sullivan police and the Franklin County sheriff have declined to release the name of the dead man, but Ryan's family identified him. Ryan was a 30-year-old machinist who lived with his mother in Sullivan. Ryan's mother, Alana Ryan, said she is skeptical of the police account and hopes a thorough investigation uncovers what really happened. Her son had troubles in the past, including time in jail and issues with substance abuse. He had been depressed and agitated, she said. And he indeed owned pocket knives. He worked at his local pastor's machine shop. Her son had just visited a cousin that day, and Alana Ryan can't figure out why he would have been walking along the interstate because he owned a car. Police closed the interstate for hours there to investigate the shooting. Traffic backed up, and a westbound tractor- trailer rear-ended one car, leading to a chain-reaction crash involving five vehicles. Three people died in the crash, including 5-year-old Emmett Jones and his mom, Chelsea Smith, 32, of Steelville, Missouri, as well as Bailey Snider, 25, of Rolla. Franklin County and Sullivan police have refused to answer questions about the shooting, referring inquiries to the Highway Patrol. The patrol won't say anything until its investigation is finished.