The Lancaster County deputies who shot and killed Doug DaMoude displayed an “overabundance of caution” in the fatal eviction attempt, Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly said.
Kelly announced Monday that a grand jury had cleared deputies of criminal wrongdoing.
“He never let go,” Kelly said of the 64-year-old who pointed an unloaded rifle at deputies May 30.
“He never let up pressure.”
The Lancaster County grand jury's decision was one of a handful of in-custody death investigations that concluded last week.
Kelly and Chief Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Doug Cyr provided a more detailed glimpse into the shooting death inside DaMoude's home just southwest of 56th Street and Old Cheney Road.
DaMoude bought the house at 5901 English Park Court in 1998, lost it to foreclosure in 2013 and was evicted April 22. He had returned despite the locks being changed and was inside the home the day deputies arrived.
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The deputies knew DaMoude didn’t recognize their authority, so they planned accordingly, Kelly said.
Prior to the shooting, the deputies watched his home for almost four hours.
In the weeks before his death, DaMoude wrote letters to the sheriff's office and police department saying he did not recognize their authority. The deputies who went to remove him from the house knew about the threats, he said.
Police said earlier that he had threatened physical violence against law enforcement, but Kelly said Monday that investigators found no threats. However, DaMoude did threaten them with lawsuits and subscribed to the sovereign citizen ideology, which generally refuses to recognize government authority.
Law enforcement surveillance efforts were aimed at determining whether DaMoude was inside the house. They knew there was a cache of hunting rifles and shotguns in the house, Kelly said.
After four hours and no sign of DaMoude, deputies knocked on the doors and windows 40 times. A locksmith, who had been called to the home, helped force entry.
Inside, DaMoude stood armed with a rifle pointed at them.
"Get out of my house," DaMoude said.
The deputies told DaMoude to drop the weapon, but he didn’t comply. Deputy William "Woody" Woodruff, who had stepped inside first, tried to grab the rifle but couldn’t gain control of it.
That's when DaMoude made "a complete effort" to redirect the barrel of the gun at the deputies, Kelly said.
"His attempt at all times was to get the barrel back toward the deputies." None of the deputies knew the gun was not loaded, Kelly said.
Two deputies who were on the porch -- Capt. Thomas Brookhouser and Sgt. Tommy Trotter -- and not involved in the struggle, fired five shots, four of which wounded DaMoude, Kelly said. He died at the home due to a gunshot wound to the head, an autopsy found.
Deputy Kirk Price was also at the house at the time of the shooting.
Sheriff Terry Wagner had previously cleared Brookhouser and Trotter after an internal investigation.
The two work in the department's civil division and returned to work June 4.
State law requires county attorneys to call a grand jury whenever a suspect or inmate dies in the custody of law enforcement officers or in the process of being apprehended. Jurors deliberate in secret.