MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. (AP) - A Middletown police officer was justified in returning fire at a man who shot him, the district attorney’s office has concluded.
Desean Owens, 29, fired a gun at Middletown police Officer Evan Barone, 26, on Saturday, hitting him in the arm. He shot back at Owens, hitting him in the head and lower body, the Times Herald-Record reported Tuesday.
Barone was driving when a woman flagged him down outside a home, police said. Owens was leaving the house and opened fire when Barone exited the car.
New York State Police and the district attorney for Orange County opened an investigation into the shooting, authorities said on Sunday, and released their finding that Barone’s actions were justified at a press conference Tuesday, the newspaper reported.
Video from a neighbor’s home captured the shooting, prosecutors provided as an explanation for the investigation’s unusually fast conclusion.
The district attorney is charging Owens with first-degree attempted murder, criminal use of a firearm and criminal possession of a weapon. He has pleaded not guilty. A phone call to his attorney was not immediately returned.
Both Owens and Barone are being treated for their injuries and are expected to recover. Owens will be sent to jail when he is released from the hospital, the newspaper said.
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