A deputy was legally justified in fatally shooting a 16-year-old who pointed a gun at the officer while holding a store employee hostage, the state attorney general's office announced Friday.
The episode unfolded on Dec. 27, 2019, when Christopher Comacho entered a Dollar General store in Limerick with a handgun and machete, and secured a clerk's wrists with tape, officials said.
Store surveillance cameras captured the scene as Deputy Robert Carr of the York County Sheriff's Department arrived at the store as Comacho held a gun in one hand and a machete in the other.
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Carr fired his rifle twice when Comacho pointed the gun toward him as he attempted to enter. A wound to the neck was fatal.
The boy's mother previously said that she believed her son wanted to be killed, and that the officer didn't attempt to defuse the situation.
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But the attorney general said Carr reasonably believed the teen intended to shoot him or hurt the clerk before discharging the rifle.
"All of the facts and circumstances point to the conclusion that Deputy Carr acted in self defense and the defense of another at the time he used deadly force," Attorney General Aaron Frey wrote.
The teen's handgun turned out to be a revolver-style pellet gun.
