MARQUETTE, Mich. — A prosecutor says a sheriff’s deputy in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula was justified when he fatally shot a man who wouldn’t lower a shotgun.
The Mining Journal reports Marquette County Prosecutor Matt Wiese announced Wednesday there would be no criminal charges. Wiese’s office said in a statement the deputy was in danger of being killed or seriously injured.
Wiese called the shooting a “tragic incident resulting in the loss of life.”
The deputy responded to the Ishpeming Township home of 68-year-old Clifford Leroy Tucker on June 9 following reports Tucker was suicidal. Authorities say Tucker approached the deputy with a shotgun and the deputy repeatedly asked Tucker to lower the weapon.
The deputy fired four times. Tucker was taken to a hospital, where was pronounced dead. The deputy wasn’t injured.
This was suicide by cop, plain and simple.