Grand Jury Clears St. Paul Officers in Fatal Shooting

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A grand jury has declined to indict St. Paul police officers involved in the fatal shooting of a mentally ill man.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and St. Paul Police Chief Thomas Smith announced the decision at a news conference Thursday.

Officers were called to 30-year-old Philip Quinn's home Sept. 24 on a report of a suicidal man.

Police say Quinn was holding a screwdriver, ignored commands to drop it, and charged at them until officers could back up no farther and fired. But Quinn's fiancee says he never threatened or charged. She says officers didn't give him enough time to comply and instead escalated the situation.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports Smith calls Quinn's death a tragedy, but said officers did what they were trained to do.

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