HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — The 23d Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office has determined that Huntsville police officers' use of deadly force in a November standoff in the Five Points area was "justified under the law."
The incident, which took place on November 16, involved a man armed with a handgun on the roof of Ted's Bar-B-Q in the Five Points area of Huntsville. Police negotiators spoke with the man for two hours in an effort to persuade him to come off the roof and to disarm himself, according to the DA's Office.
The man was later identified by police as 41-year-old Bradley A. Pugh.
The DA's Office said Pugh told police that they would have to kill him. When Pugh eventually came down from the roof, he refused to surrender his weapon despite "less-than-lethal" force being employed by police.
Pugh then fled towards a residential area while pointing his gun at police, the DA's Office said. Once again, police employed "less-than-lethal" force, which Pugh responded to by raising his weapon, according to the DA's Office.
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Once Pugh raised his weapon, multiple officers employed deadly force, shooting and killing him, according to the DA's Office.