(Radio Iowa) – The mother of the Algona man accused of shooting a policeman to death last year has testified at her son’s murder trial. Video from Algona Officer Kevin Cram’s police camera was played in the courtroom, showing the shooting happened just minutes after Cram arrived to arrest Kyle Ricke for a misdemeanor. The shooting happened at Irene Ricke’s house and the prosecutor asked her questions about the incident. “Was Officer Cram ever rude to your son?” the prosecutor asked. Irene Ricke replied: “Not at all and they were joking back and forth. Everything was fine. That’s why I know he snapped because that’s not in his character to do something like this.”

Dickinson County jurors also heard the interaction between Cram and Ricke from the officer’s body camera. It was only about 100 seconds before Ricke shot and killed Cram as he tried to serve the warrant.

Ricke left to put away a skid loader he was using to clear a trail. He returned from the garage with a gun, firing eight shots, hitting Cram three times in the head. The prosecution says after firing on Cram, Ricke tried to shoot himself, but there were no bullets left in the gun. Ricke fled to his sister’s home in Minnesota, where he was taken into custody four hours later.

His sister also took the stand, saying her brother admitted he did a “terrible thing” and he wanted to end his life. Algona Assistant Police Chief Mark Bacha testified that he was worried when Officer Cram did not signal dispatch or tell other officers the warrant had been served.

The trial was moved from Kossuth County to Dickinson County due to concerns about finding an impartial jury.

(Contributed by Sheila Brummer, Iowa Public Radio)