Family of Hyannis man killed in Maine said he had history of mental illness

When Jeff Mendoza found out that his cousin Kenneth Ellis was shot and killed by a Maine police officer, he was heartbroken.

"They executed him. I can't believe it happened," said Mendoza, who lives in Jacksonville, Florida.

Ellis was fatally shot by a Fryeburg, Maine, police officer on Jan. 31 after a two-state chase, Fryeburg Police Chief Aaron Mick said.

According to Mick, Ellis, 52, of Hyannis, was shot after the pickup truck he was driving crashed and he emerged from the vehicle carrying a knife. According to Mick, the officer on scene repeatedly instructed Ellis to drop the knife, but he refused to do so.

"The suspect continued to walk toward the cruiser and the officer fired eight rounds," he said over the telephone.

Ellis was pronounced dead at the scene.

'There was no need for that'

Amy Cook, Ellis' ex-girlfriend and mother to his two children, said she recently watched a black and white doorbell camera video, which captured a portion of the police chase and Ellis' vehicle as it hit a snow bank.

Cook, who lives in New Hampshire, provided the WMTW-TV YouTube video to the Times.

"The police say that they yelled at Kenny three times to drop a knife. But all you hear is silence and then eight gunshots," said Cook.

The police officer opened fire and "emptied the whole clip into Kenny," she said. "There was no need for that."

How did the incident start?

The incident started at about 6:30 p.m. when a motorist told a Conway, New Hampshire, police sergeant that a black F-150 pickup truck was speeding, tailgating and passing people on the road, Mick said.

A short time later, an officer spotted the truck parked at a convenience store in Conway, Mick said. Ellis was outside the vehicle and when the officer tried to talk to him, Ellis returned to the truck and drove off.

The officer pursued Ellis and notified Maine authorities the truck was headed toward the border, Mick said. A Fryeburg police officer and an Oxford County sheriff's deputy were stationed at the visitors center in Fryeburg.The sheriff's deputy followed a truck that passed by, but Mick said it was the wrong truck. A short time later, a second truck, going 80 to 100 mph, drove by, he said. The Fryeburg officer pursued the truck.

As the truck headed toward downtown Fryeburg, it T-boned a vehicle making a left turn into a gas station, Mick said. The truck then hit a second car, causing it to flip over, and continued about 150 to 200 feet and hit a pylon in the center of town, he said. Ellis emerged from the passenger side of the truck carrying a knife, Mick said.

In the meantime, the sheriff's deputy collided with a vehicle making a left turn, Mick said. The deputy suffered what were thought to be non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Associated Press.

A total of seven cars were involved in the incident, Mick said.

"It was a wild scene in downtown Fryeburg."The shooting is under investigation by the Maine Attorney General’s office as is the policy when an officer uses deadly force, Mick said. The officer involved was placed on paid administrative leave, he said.

Fryeburg, Maine, is a rural community of about 3,400 residents located on the border of New Hampshire. The town is about a 2½-hour drive directly north from Boston.

Why was Kenneth Ellis in Maine?

While she didn't speak with Ellis immediately before his death, Cook said she was abruptly woken by phone calls between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m. from the Ellis family informing her that Ellis was dead. "My heart sank," said Cook.

Ellis was on his way to see their son, said Cook, who she didn't name. Cook said a family member informed Ellis that their son had been arrested, and Ellis immediately wanted to help.

"I wish he would have called me so I could have calmed him down and explained to him what was going on," said Cook.

A history of mental illness plagued Ellis for years

Ellis has been in and out of jail throughout his life, mostly related to his mental health, said Cook.

"When he was on his medication, he was doing good," said Cook. "He was always a hard worker. He had tons of friends on the Cape. He still does to this day."

In 2019, Ellis, then of Dennis, was charged and later indicted on criminal charges, including rape of a child and indecent assault and battery on a child. The charges were dropped on July 15, 2022, in Barnstable Superior Court. The circumstances behind the charges, said Cook, didn't add up to who Ellis was as a person. The allegations, she said, came from an ex-girlfriend who wanted to hurt Ellis.

"If you knew Kenny, you knew he would never do anything like that," said Cook.In a GoFundMe set up by Ellis' niece Tia Johnson, it's noted that Ellis was also living with a brain tumor.

"He was still able to find the brighter side to life. If he ever noticed if you were sad or mad he would always crack a joke or do something silly that would light up the room. That’s something we all will miss about him," said Johnson on the GoFundMe page.

About a year ago, Cook said Ellis was also attacked in Hyannis by an unknown assailant. He was hit in the head and left overnight in the cold, said Cook.

"He was on life support at Cape Cod Hospital and brain scans showed he was brain dead," said Cook.

But as soon as the hospital medical staff took him off life support, "he woke up," she said.

Ellis was raised on Cape Cod

Ellis lived on Cape Cod in Hyannis and Dennis within the last five years. But Ellis grew up in Harwich, said Mendoza. As a teen and young adult, Ellis was always building muscle cars and was interested in auto body work and roofing, said Mendoza.

"He had this black Chevy Nova that he built — that thing was like his baby," said Mendoza. "He also had a Corvette. I worked for him for a while and he taught me a lot. We were pretty tight — me, him and his brothers."

Cook remembers Ellis as a "happy-go-lucky guy" and said he was "always dancing and joking around." The duo met at Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in Harwich, and she gave birth to their daughter in 1994. When Cook became pregnant with their son in 1997, she noticed that Ellis' mind was changing. At the time, she said, he was a mollusk fisherman and was often out to sea for four days at a time.

"I started to see that he was troubled and sometimes he could be a handful," she said. "But he was never malicious. He was not a mean person."

Ellis also lived in Florida, said Mendoza. The duo initially drove to Florida together, and Ellis remained there for about five years, said Mendoza. "He was shrimping down there, and I went to Daytona and worked and we kept in contact," said Mendoza.

'Nobody's perfect'

While Ellis had a history of mental illness and substance abuse, in the last several years, Mendoza said Ellis was doing well. It's sad, he said, that people continue to judge him for his past mistakes.

"There's been a lot of bad talk about his record. And people judge him by that, unfortunately. He did a lot of good things, too," he said. "I'm a firm believer that nobody’s perfect."

In a Facebook post, Johnson said Ellis made mistakes in his life, but he didn't deserve to die the way he did.

"He was a human being with people who loved him and that he loved too," said Johnson on her post. "I hope justice finds its way into this situation and with this sudden tragedy."

Rachael Devaney writes about community and culture. Reach her at rdevaney@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @RachaelDevaney.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Hyannis man killed in Maine by police had family, friends on Cape Cod