The Denver District Attorney’s Office will not file charges against the two Denver Police Department officers who shot a man who allegedly reached for a gun in his back waistband following a standoff.

Officers Nathaniel Gorham and Ivan Salazar-Reyes fired five rounds at 32-year-old Zachary Yates on Nov. 27, striking the suspect in his neck and forearm. The officers will not face charges for the incident because their actions were “justified based on Colorado law regarding use of force and self-defense,” Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said in a letter to the Denver Police Department.

Officers arrived at the Cedar Run apartment complex at 888 South Oneida Street around 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 27 to investigate a truck “blaring” music, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said in a press conference following the incident.

Yates could be seen outside of a truck in the officers’ bodycam footage, moving boxes near a dumpster. As officers approached the man, they noticed a handgun tucked in his waistband on his back, breaking open carry laws in Denver. Officers ordered the man to drop the gun.

Yates allegedly refused to put his hands on his head or drop the weapon, according to the letter from the District Attorney’s Office. He argued that his gun wasn’t illegal.

The suspect told officers multiple times to shoot him, continuing to show indifference to the orders to get on the ground.

Officers attempted to get the man to comply for around four minutes before he reached behind his back. According to the letter, he placed his hand on his gun — later identified as a Glock 17 with one round in the chamber — causing the two officers to fire at him.

“I felt if I had waited any longer, that it would have put officer’s in danger,” Gorham told investigators after the incident.

Yates was taken to a local hospital and survived his injuries. He faces charges of unlawfully carrying a firearm and prohibited possession of a high-capacity magazine. He is due in court for a hearing on March 28.

“I find that when Officer Gorham and Officer Salazar-Reyes saw Yates’ arm behind his back it was objectively reasonable for them to believe Yates was immediately intending to use unlawful and potentially deadly force,” McCann said in the letter.

“I am pleased with the officers’ actions,” Thomas said in the press conference. “I think they took a significant amount of time to deescalate that situation. I don’t believe that any officer wanted to fire in this particular case and took a lot of precautions to try to get this to end peacefully.”