Prosecutor: Fatal Tennessee police shooting was justified

JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. – A Tennessee prosecutor says a police officer was justified in a fatal shooting earlier this year in which a man charged at him with a large knife.

District Attorney General Ken Baldwin said in a letter Monday to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that an investigation showed no inappropriate actions by Jonesborough Officer Chad Reece. The Johnson City Press reports that Reece shot 26-year-old Mark Clinton Harrell Jr. of Church Hill three times in March.

Police had been dispatched to a motel on a report of suspicious activity involving another man, who they found in a car. When officers approached the vehicle, Harrell exited with the knife.

Baldwin said Harrell was given multiple opportunities to drop the machete-like weapon and Reece only fired when Harrell charged at him swinging the knife.