SWAT officer cleared in shooting of man with body armour

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Prosecutors in North Carolina say a Charlotte SWAT officer was justified in shooting and killing a man with a gun wearing body armour who told officers they were going to have to shoot him.

District Attorney Andrew Murray said in a news release that 41-year-old Sylasone Ackhavong could have shot several officers without warning in April and officer Olin Lester was justified firing after Ackhavong refused to put down his gun.

Murray’s report released Wednesday said Ackhavong repeatedly told officers they were going to have to shoot him and saying his death would be on their conscious and not his.

Friends and co-workers told police that Ackhavong suddenly started acting strange seeing ghosts and thinking he was being poisoned about a week before the shooting.

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