Because the use of deadly force was legally justified, charges will not be filed in a September shooting that left a 42-year-old Lawrence man dead, the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office has announced in a news release.

An investigation by Lawrence detectives, crime scene analysts and the county coroner has concluded that an incident of severe domestic violence led a woman to shoot Lenny Morrison to death at an apartment at 433 Ohio St.

On Sept. 16, Lawrence police were dispatched to a report of a woman bleeding from the mouth. Officers arrived on the scene and found a 21-year-old Lawrence woman with obvious facial injuries, according to the news release.

Officers entered the apartment and found Morrison dead with an apparent gunshot wound to the chest.

Upon investigation officers learned that the couple had been involved in a domestic dispute about the woman’s desire to move to another state, according to the news release. During the argument, Morrison reportedly became angry and battered the woman repeatedly while holding her at gunpoint. Investigators say that during the battery, the woman and Morrison simultaneously gained control over a handgun, and the woman fired the gun at close range, striking Morrison in the chest and killing him.

Kansas law provides that a person is justified in the use of deadly force when a person reasonably believes that such use of deadly force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm. District Attorney Charles Branson has determined that self-defense applied in the Sept. 16 shooting and that no charges will be filed.