LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Tammara Beard said her brother was attempting suicide by cop Saturday night when he shot at a police cruiser.

Loren Gary, 45, was arrested on suspicions of attempted murder, intimidation, pointing a firearm, criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon and public intoxication.

Police said Gary shot at the front of the cruiser as a Tippecanoe County Sheriff's deputy, who was responding to a report of man with a gun, stepped out of the vehicle.

"I believe the police officer yelled at him and told him to put the gun down and to turn around," Beard said, "and when he yelled that, my brother fired upon him."

Beard said her brother, who struggles with undiagnosed mental illnesses and alcoholism, had fallen on hard times and was living with her son.

She said he called her earlier in the night before the shooting.

"He called me and told me he was going to shoot my son," Beard said. "I called my son and asked him if there was an argument or anything going on, and he said, 'No.' He said, 'I don’t know what's going on,' and I said, 'You need to get out and call 911,' and he had his girlfriend and the baby out of the house, and my brother ran out of the front door."

After the call, Beard said she went to a house at 30 Concho Court to make sure everyone was safe.

"While in route, I was on the phone with 911, and I heard in the background that shots had been fired," she said. "When I got there, I didn't know whether my son had been hurt or whether my brother had taken his own life."

Police said Gary instead turned the gun on the responding deputy, who was not injured during the shooting.

Beard contends Gary was attempting suicide by cop and "was not trying to hurt the police officer," she said.

She said Gary shows signs of depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, although he has never been formally diagnosed.

"I got him help many, many years ago ... when he was suicidal and drunk, and talked him into going in and getting some treatment when he lived in Michigan," Beard said. "But after that, they just let you go. Unless they're minors, you can't put them in a hospital, no matter how much you know they need help until they've already hurt themselves or hurt somebody else."

Tippecanoe County Sheriff Barry Richard was not immediately available for comment.