Police Cleared In Fatal Shooting Of St. Paul Man

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Ramsey County grand jury has cleared St. Paul police in the fatal shooting last year of a man who was armed with a rifle.

The county prosecutor's office says the grand jury declined to indict the two officers, finding that their use of deadly force was justified.

Twenty-eight-year-old Justin Todd Tolkinen of St. Paul was shot and killed during a confrontation with police on March 16. Officers were called to a house on a report of a man with a rifle. Authorities arrived to find Tolkinen wearing a bulletproof vest and holding an assault rifle that he put just inside the door to his house.

Officers tried firing nonlethal bean bag rounds, but Tolkinen picked up the rifle and aimed it at officers. Two officers shot at Tolkinen, hitting him.

No officers were hurt.

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