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OGDEN, Utah (AP) -- Prosecutors cleared a SWAT team in the fatal shooting of an ex-convict who pointed an air pistol at officers during a no-knock drug raid at his house.
Weber County Attorney Mark DeCaria took five months to determine that two officers were justified in killing William Florez, 51.
DeCaria believes Florez was gunning for an "officer-assisted suicide."
Layton Sgt. Travis Homer got off the first shots through a living room window, but missed hitting Florez, who fled to a bedroom. Ogden Officer Jacob Sube, who was stationed outside the bedroom window, fired the fatal head shot.
DeCaria said the officers were not required to guess whether Florez's air gun was a deadly weapon or not.
Ogden Police Chief Jon Greiner says an air gun fires pellets, not bullets, but can do damage. He said officers couldn't have known the type of gun amid the chaos.
Florez had been released from prison a few months earlier after serving 20 years for homicide.
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Information from: Standard-Examiner
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
