Prosecutors will not file charges against four law enforcement officials who used lethal force to kill a man in Grand Junction on March 17.

“The actions of Officers Wihera and Nelson, and Deputies Bailey and Hansen fall squarely within the use of deadly force in self-defense or defense of others justification,” wrote 21st Judicial District Attorney Daniel P. Rubinstein to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation in mid-June. “Accordingly, this matter is not appropriate for criminal prosecution.”

In Rubinstein’s narrative of events, police received 9-1-1 calls shortly after 7 p.m. describing a man harassing a group of boys who were playing basketball at Orchard Mesa Middle School. At one point, the man, Steve Alire, displayed a knife. When Alire, 51, walked away toward his house, he soon returned with what appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle, and pointed it at the basketball players.

Grand Junction Police Officers Thomas Wihera and Thomas Nelson responded, along with several Mesa County Sheriff deputies. Alire emerged from his house with his weapon, threw it on the ground and cursed at the assembled law enforcement from several dozen yards away. He returned inside his house and when he reemerged, went to pick up the gun again.

One of sheriff’s sergeants told Alire “not to reach for the rifle,” Rubinstein wrote. “Alire picked up the rifle and started to bring it up towards Officer Wihera. Officer Wihera feared Alire was going to shoot him or other police officers. Officer Wihera shot at Alire.”

Nelson’s body-worn camera clearly displayed Alire’s actions in the 23 seconds leading up to his killing. Nelson’s account of Alire’s actions was similar, with police being unable to understand what Alire was saying to them and the man disregarding their instructions. The officer fired from his own semi-automatic rifle after he saw Alire point the gun at him.

Although multiple officials at the scene heard Alire ask something to the effect of whether he should load his gun, Officer Andrew Martinez did “not recall Alire pointing the gun at the officers and cannot say Alire definitively pointed the gun.”

Deputies Shaver Hansen and Jason Bailey also fired at Alire, with Hansen stating that he thought to himself at the time: “I’m not gonna allow him to shoot us.” Hansen added that “there were no less lethal options” of engagement.

There were a total of 16 shots fired, and Alire’s weapon turned out to be an airsoft gun, which the CBI noted “is not a firearm.” The bureau released the district attorney’s letter on July 1.

State law allows the use of deadly physical force if a lesser degree of force is insufficient and a person reasonably believes that they are in danger of serious injury or death. A major policing reform bill that the legislature passed in June changed the use-of-force standard, permitting it “only if nonviolent means would be ineffective” in preventing death or injury.

The officers’ “use of deadly physical force against Mr. Alire,” Rubinstein concluded, “was authorized under the theory of self-defense.” He explained that the law subjectively allowed the officers to determine if their lives were in jeopardy, but also required that their beliefs be reasonable.

The district attorney argued a jury would deem it reasonable that “a person believes that they are in imminent danger of being killed by another when the other produces what objectively looks like an AR style rifle … and then despite being ordered to stay away from it … quickly tries to grab it and level it at the officers.”

In a GoFundMe campaign started for Alire’s family, his son, Matthew, wrote that “It pains me to have to ask and to even acknowledge this is real: nothing can replace or compare to my dads cocky smile, corky inappropriate jokes, and his all around good heart.”

Matthew Alire added, “He always put others before himself. Sometimes, too much so.”