Sometime before he died -- gunned down by St. Paul police officers after he allegedly confronted them with a handgun -- Robert J. Jeske is believed to have logged onto a MySpace page for the final time.

"I love you all .......... goodbye ..... I am sorry ....." states the note entered under the name Bob Hope.

The author's mood? "Done," the MySpace entry reads.

Although authorities have yet to make a final determination, police spokesman Peter Panos said Tuesday that the MySpace page and another note apparently left by Jeske on his computer are leading investigators to believe that his death Monday was a case of officer-assisted suicide.

Jeske, 34, of St. Paul, was shot and killed by police after he allegedly refused to put down his gun, and instead raised it, Panos said, while in an alley in the 1500 block of E. Iowa Avenue on the city's East Side.

A police dog named Boomer was shot in the muzzle during the altercation.

Jeske's family and friends were shocked when they learned about the confrontation with police, the shooting and the MySpace goodbye.

Most knew Jeske as a talented musician who was nonviolent, "easygoing" and "happy-go-lucky."

"This just wasn't him," said his younger sister, Sarah Rudolph of St. Paul. "None of this makes any sense. I don't think he ever handled a gun in his life. Maybe a BB gun when he was little. ... He was one of the most harmless people ever."

The gun Jeske had belonged to a friend, Rudolph said.

Jeske, who grew up in Minneapolis, was destined to be a musician. Long before he played guitars borrowed from friends, he was playing on pots and pans, Rudolph said.

By age 13, he had his own acoustic guitar and was teaching himself to play. He loved hard rock and heavy metal but would play everything from oldies to ad jingles, she said.

Jeske was the guy in the band who kept everyone smiling, said Chris South, who played with him in their former band, Downside of Truth. "He was the one who kept me from losing my cool," South said.

But Matt James, a former drummer in the band and Jeske's best friend, noted that when a friend of Jeske's committed suicide last year, "he took it pretty hard."

In recent months, Jeske seemed to be depressed, James said. "But it's puzzling. ... Everybody gets down and out about stuff. I don't know what pushed him over the edge like that."

Jeske kept a lot to himself, James said. "There's a certain amount that he'll tell people but if it's something that's really troubling or bothering him, you won't know. He'll be around you and he'll be upbeat and you won't even know anything is wrong. ... Something must have snapped."

Panos said it has yet to be determined whether Jeske or a police officer shot the dog. Boomer is "going to lose some teeth," Panos said, but is expected to return to duty.

"He was barking all the way to the hospital," Panos said. "He wasn't happy."

A medical procedure performed on Boomer should shed light on what direction the bullet came from, Panos said.

A prior record

At 6:12 p.m. Monday, authorities were alerted that a man with a handgun was drinking in the alley behind the 1500 block of E. Iowa Avenue. Two minutes later, as police were on the way, another call came in about shots being fired.

When officers arrived, he said, they saw the gun and ordered Jeske to drop it. Boomer was let go when Jeske allegedly refused their command.

Panos said three officers -- Adam Bailey, a four-year officer, and Brian Casey and Douglas Wilson, both two-year officers -- fired at Jeske.

Investigators have yet to determine whether Jeske simply raised his gun, or whether he fired it, too, Panos said.

According to court records, Jeske pleaded guilty to a driving-while-under-the-influence offense in Ramsey County in December 2007. He was sentenced to four days at the workhouse and two years' probation. An earlier Ramsey County District Court case involving the possession of methamphetamine was dismissed in 2004.

The MySpace page is marked private, requiring visitors to be added as a "friend" to enter. But a public heading there seemingly addressed to the world reads: "Bob Hope loves you all ........"

alonetree@startribune.com 612-673-4109 mlsmith@startribune.com 612-673-4788