NC:No Immunity for Deputies Who Shot Gun Owner

(CN) - Sheriff's deputies must face claims related to their shooting of a man who heard possible intruders outside his home and stepped out with a gun to investigate, the 4th Circuit ruled.

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  He says he then opened the door to his back porch and stepped outside with his 20-gauge shotgun in hand, its muzzle pointed toward the ground.

     The officers meanwhile claimed that Cooper had flung the door open, raised the gun up to his hip and fired a shot.

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  The Richmond, Va.-based panel affirmed Thursday, noting that the precedent cited by the deputies instead emphasize why the use of deadly force against Cooper was not constitutionally permissible.

     "In each of the above scenarios, the objective basis for the threat was real, but the gun was not," King wrote. "Here, the shotgun was real, but - taking the facts as the district court viewed them - the threat was not.

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