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An off-duty sheriff’s deputy fatally shot an armed man in Indiana after he ignored commands to drop a rifle and pointed the weapon at officers, police said.
Vigo County sheriff’s deputies were called Wednesday afternoon to a home south of Terre Haute for a welfare check on a suicidal male, Indiana State Police said.
An off-duty Vigo County deputy joined them and tried to communicate with the man, who was in distress, police said. After an on-deputy noticed the man had guns in his possession, he provided his off-duty colleague with a department-issued service rifle because that deputy had arrived at the scene unarmed.
When the deputies ordered the man to drop a rifle he was holding, the man ignored those commands and pointed it at the officers, prompting the off-duty deputy to fire one shot, striking the man, police said.
The man, who police identified as James Dockery, 45, of Terre Haute, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The off-duty deputy, a 10-year veteran of the sheriff’s department, has been placed on administrative leave — a routine step following shootings involving police officers.
Indiana State Police said the agency is investigating the fatal shooting.
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