STUART A grand jury Tuesday determined Martin County Sheriff’s Office deputies were justified in the Oct. 8 fatal shooting of a Palm City man who raised a rifle at a SWAT team outside his home, the State Attorney’s Office confirmed.
After spending a day listening to 12 witnesses presented by state prosecutors, the grand jury seated in Martin County declined to return criminal charges against members of the sheriff’s special weapons and tactics team, according to Assistant State Attorney Brandon White.
Soon after SWAT members fatally shot the 47-year-old commercial airline pilot outside his home, authorities described the incident as a suicide-by-cop, or what they sometimes call a “victim-precipitated homicide.”