The wife of a man killed Wednesday by Sunnyvale police said that her husband was unarmed and was shot in his car while leaving for work.

Erika Cañas, 22, said she was standing in the front yard of her apartment complex with her 18-month-old twin sons when police confronted her husband, Jose Cañas, 32.

"They shot my husband in the head," Erika Cañas said.

The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety is investigating the death and has placed two officers on paid administrative leave, keeping with departmental policy on officer-involved shootings, Capt. Doug Moretto said. Police, with a warrant, were seeking to arrest Cañas and two others for investigation of an Aug. 17 killing in the neighborhood.

About the claim that Cañas was unarmed, Moretto would only say that an unspecified weapon was involved.

The other two men, whom police would not name Thursday, were arrested without incident.

At 11:35 a.m. Wednesday, Jose Cañas was pulling out of his parking place on the street when a car rammed his, his wife said. She said an officer drew a gun and shouted "Stop." She said her husband turned to look at the officer and was shot twice.

"I said, 'Don't shoot him, leave him alone,' " she said.

Then, she said, another officer threatened to shoot her, as she was standing in front of her apartment at 1144 Ayala Dr., and also threatened to handcuff her if she didn't go inside.

"I said no, you guys are shooting my husband."

A neighbor then took her keys and her crying sons, Jesus Angel and Jose Emmanuel, inside, she said.

Moretto confirmed that police shot Cañas in his car, but said "There was no contact between the police and the suspect's vehicle." He would not comment on other details of the confrontation because the department is still investigating. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office also is looking into the killing.

Erika Cañas said she didn't know why police would be looking for her husband, who was leaving for his job assembling computer boards.

Police said they were investigating a gang-related death of Pablo Rosales, 21, who was stabbed several times last month in the Ayala Drive neighborhood.

Erika Cañas, who was distraught on Thursday, said her husband was not involved in that killing.

Contact Sharon Noguchi at snoguchi@mercurynews.com or (408) 271-3775.