Winfield ? A veteran Winfield police officer has been cleared of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of an unarmed robber.

The officer, whose name was not released because he was neither arrested nor charged, shot Danny M. Fruits once in the abdomen last month because he thought Fruits was reaching for a weapon.

Fruits was taken to William Newton Hospital, where he died a short time later.

“While the events of March 8, 2006, which resulted in the death of Danny M. Fruits, were tragic and will affect the lives of many people, it is determined that the actions of the Winfield Police Department officer were justified and that no criminal charges should be brought against the individual officer involved,” Cowley County Atty. Christopher Smith said Wednesday in a written report.

According to the report, officers pursued Fruits, who was a passenger in a fleeing sports utility vehicle, to Tunnel Mill Dam after he robbed a Smoker’s Choice cigarette shop in Winfield.

Before the shooting, the report said Fruits refused to exit the SUV and kept his hands in the area of his waistband and made comments, such as “I’m not going anywhere” and “You are going to have to shoot me.”

Even after he was shot, the report said Fruits “continued to refuse to fully comply with the orders to get down.”

A subsequent search found he did not have a weapon, but was in possession of $1,199.27 in cash.

The SUV was driven by another man who has not been charged.

Fruits’ mother, Dorothy Fruits, said she was “terribly disappointed” by Smith’s findings and thought the officer’s name should be released to the public.

“It’s a small town, people talk, so we know the name,” she said. “But I think it should be public information, if the shooting is justified, as they say it is.”