A deputy within the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office will not face criminal charges after fatally shooting an armed man who shot at two deputies near Castle Pine earlier this year.

Law enforcement responded to a report of a man “acting crazy” “hallucinating” and armed in the area of Interstate 25 and Happy Canyon near Castle Rock about 6:20 p.m. on April 3.

The caller stated the man, later identified as 23-year-old Samuel Yeager was armed, pointed the rifle at him and later demanded to be dropped off on the side of the road, according to the report by the 18th District Critical Response Team report.

Deputy Brent Butler was the first to arrive on-scene and observed Yeager holding a black soft gun case and grew concerned due to the large amount of traffic along the interstate and overpass.

Butler ordered Yeager to drop the weapon, but he refused and pointed it at the deputy before moving across the road onto the on-ramp of the interstate. At this time, the deputy moved his car to block all traffic from accessing the ramp, according to the report.

While on the ramp, Yeager dropped into a prone, shooting position and at this time sheriff’s Deputy Christopher Lippolis arrived and parked behind Butler.

Lippolis stated during the investigation he witnessed Yeager “check-weld” the rifle and appeared to be preparing to fire at Deputy Butler. Yeager then squinted, which caused Lippolis to fire, according to the report.

Lippolis said during the investigation he believed he missed his initial shot, which caused him to fire two additional rounds.

Yeager dropped to the ground and was pronounced dead on-scene.

During the investigation officials located three casings of .223 ammunition that is consistent of Lippolis’ weapon — two on the ground and one on the hood well of his vehicle — which was consistent with his testimony, according to the report.

Additionally, investigators located on-scene recovered Yeager’s AK-47 like rifle and discovered he fired at deputies at least three times, according to the report.

As a result of the investigation, the district attorney’s office deemed Lippolis’ actions justifiable.

“(Lippolis” had an objectively reasonable believe that a lesser degree of force was inadequate and Lippolis had objectively reasonable grounds to believe, and did believe, that he or another person was in imminent danger of being killed or of receiving serious bodily injuries,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Dawson wrote in the report.