THE POLICE officer who shot an Irishman in the US earlier this month has been unanimously cleared of any wrongdoing by a US grand jury.
The jury found that the shooting of Andrew Hanlon (20) by Tony Gonzalez (35) in Silverton, Oregon, on July 1st was "a lawful use of deadly physical force".
Testimony of 13 witnesses including four police officers was considered and a videotape of Mr Gonzalez's interview with detectives was shown to the jury.
The family of Hanlon has described the verdict as "disappointing".
Hanlon's sister, Melanie Heise, representing the Hanlon family, said there were still a lot of questions relating to the matter and the family intended to examine all the paperwork relating to it.
"The testimonies to the jury will be gone through and, as far as the family is concerned, this is not over yet," she added.
Hanlon arrived in the US last summer and had been living in Silverton, a small town 72km (45 miles) south of Portland, where Ms Heise, and her husband live.
On the night the incident occurred, Hanlon sought to gain entry to the house of Shannon Kelley, who lives close to his sister's house, and his behaviour in doing so prompted Ms Kelley to call the police.
Ms Kelley said he "howled at the moon" and shouted that he was the "angel of death". She said Hanlon charged against the door a number of times and she and her parents, who were visiting, had to use their combined body weight to keep the door shut.
The jury heard that, on failing to get through the door, Hanlon then ran barefoot through some trees where he was confronted by police, which led to the shooting incident.
The Marion County district attorney's office said the jury was provided with photographs of the shooting scene as well as the houses of Ms Kelley and Ms Heise, which related to a claim that Hanlon might have mistaken Ms Kelley's house for his sister's.
The jury also heard the emergency call from Ms Kelley.
The autopsy report of Hanlon was examined, as well as toxicology reports on both Mr Hanlon and Mr Gonzalez.
Two police officers who were with Mr Gonzalez testified to the jury with regard to his condition before and after the shooting.
At a press conference in Oregon yesterday, Ms Heise said she accepted that her "dear brother" was "disturbed and perhaps even agitated" on the night he was shot.
"What does not make sense to me is how it is, over and over again, in Oregon and elsewhere, that a confrontation between law enforcement and a person with mental illness ends up with the mentally ill person dead, law enforcement 'justified' and nothing changed."
She added: "In Andrew's name, I will commit myself to finding ways to solve this problem. I do not intend to let go of these questions, and we intend to continue to press to understand what happened."
Mr Gonzalez appeared in court in Oregon last week in relation to sex-abuse charges and was refused bail. He is due back in court later this month.