photo by: Omaha Crime Stoppers/Contributed Photo; Mackenzie Clark/Journal-World Photo

Pictured at left is Nicholas Hirsh, 31, of Nebraska. At right, law enforcement vehicles and police tape surround the scene of an officer-involved shooting at 19th and Massachusetts streets on Monday, June 15, 2020. The suspect, Hirsh, had been driving the red sedan seen here behind the fire hydrant.

The Douglas County district attorney will not file charges against officers involved in a fatal shooting of a suspect on June 15, according to a Tuesday news release.

The shooting, which involved officers from the Kansas Highway Patrol and the University of Kansas Police Department, killed Nicholas Hirsh, a 31-year-old man from Omaha, Neb., the Journal-World reported.

There was “ample evidence” to indicate that deadly force was necessary to protect the public and the officers from death or great bodily harm, according to the release from the DA’s office.

“The video evidence, damage to a Kansas Highway Patrol vehicle, and eyewitness testimony demonstrate that Hirsh began shooting first and was aiming at law enforcement officers, thus giving officers no choice but to fire at him to protect themselves,” according to the release from the DA’s office.

Hirsh was a suspect in two homicides in Nebraska. He was driving a red four-door sedan in Jefferson County when KHP troopers — alerted to a warrant for his arrest earlier in the day — spotted him, Technical Trooper Don Hughes said shortly after the incident.

They pursued him into Lawrence, where other local law enforcement agencies became involved in trying to stop him. Eventually, troopers were able to intervene and stop Hirsh’s vehicle at the intersection of 19th and Massachusetts streets, Hughes said. Hirsh had come out of the vehicle wielding a gun at officers, Hughes said, but it was not immediately clear at the time whether Hirsh had fired at law enforcement.

“Based on the totality of the facts developed in this investigation, the shots fired by the officers were not criminal conduct under Kansas law,” according to the release. “Therefore, no criminal charges will be filed against the officers in the shooting of Hirsh.”

The shooting was investigated by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department, the Journal-World has reported.

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