The Denver Police Department officer who shot and injured an armed man in a Lower Downtown (LoDo) parking lot this summer was cleared after the shooting was deemed justified, according to the Denver District Attorney’s Office.

Ofc. Nathaniel Trobee, who shot and injured 24 year-old Luis Hansell Villar-Mejia on Aug. 3, had a right to use force against the armed suspect whom he feared would shoot him or other officers, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said in a letter to Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas on Thursday.

The shooting occurred in a parking lot near 19th Street and Market Street around 2 a.m. that day when officers were conducting traffic control as part of the department’s new LoDo and Ballpark District security plan.

Trobee was on duty and monitoring crowds in the bar area when he heard gunshots coming from the parking lot. Trobee and four other officers began heading toward the gunshots.

A witness then told the officers that there was a man with a gun near a white Audi in the parking lot.

The officers approached the vehicle and found Villar-Mejia near the car. As the officers moved toward the man, he held up both hands, with what appeared to be a handgun in his right hand, according to previously released body camera footage.

The officers yelled for the man to drop the gun. The man then began moving the firearm to his left hand, pointing it toward the officers. Trobee then fired a single shot at the suspect, hitting him in the right bicep and dropping him down next to the car.

The man apologized as officers flipped him over, stating that he was attempting to put the gun down.

“I’m not a criminal. I was just trying to save myself,” he said, continuing to apologize.

A GLOCK 17 9 mm semi-automatic handgun was retrieved at the scene.

In an interview following the incident, Trobee noted he thought the man was positioning the gun to get a better grip on it, pointing it toward the officers.

“I believed he was going to shoot at me or my partners,” Trobee said, according to the letter.

“I conclude from the facts of this investigation that Officer Trobee reasonably believed that Villar was about to shoot him, and that he reasonably believed that firing his weapon was necessary to defend himself and the other nearby officers,” McCann said in the letter.