UPDATE: Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons sent a statement to WKRG News 5 on Tuesday morning. He said regardless if Colin West fired shots or not, he pointed a gun at deputies after being advised not to.

“There were a number of deputies at the scene covering the front door. When he opened the door and pointed his gun at deputies, they fired. Initial reports were that he fired at deputies. Ultimately, it matters not whether he fired first or even fired at all. He pointed a gun at deputies after being advised not to. This is indisputable.”

He said the end result was not what anyone wanted.

“The truth of the matter is that actions have consequences,” Simmons said. “When an individual raises a gun at deputies, there are consequences. There is no way to sugarcoat that. If you fight with a deputy, you may get injured, if you raise a gun at a deputy, those consequences can be fatal. We tried to get him to come out peacefully, he instead chose to open the door and raise a gun at deputies.”

ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. (WKRG) — The Office of the State Attorney has completed their review of the officer involved shooting which resulted in the death of Colin West and no criminal charges will be filed against the eight deputies involved in the shooting.

The State Attorney’s Office said the incident was investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and after a review of the report, the office “determined the deadly force actions of deputy sheriffs of Escambia County Sheriff’s Office were justified.”

Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said in a press conference on Oct. 4, 2022, his deputies received a call to 106 Payne Road, about an armed disturbance. After deputies knocked on the door, a woman came out screaming that a male inside had a firearm inside of the home.

“Colin West was inside of the house, with a gun and had already threatened his wife with the gun,” Simmons said. “We were already applying for felony warrants on him, so we weren’t going to walk away. He is also on probation. He is on four years probation for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, domestic violence in 2019, kidnapping and false imprisonment in May 2019 and he was found guilty of those. That is when he got six months of county jail and four years of probation, which led him to be a convicted felon.”

West did not listen to deputies telling him to come out of the house with his hands up, according to Simmons. The sheriff said West opened the door, came out with the handgun and started shooting at deputies.

“Keep in mind, we had the house surrounded,” Simmons said. “So, we had seven, eight deputies out in front of the home. He starts shooting at our deputies. When you come outside with a gun in your hand and start shooting at us, you get what you get and that’s dead. When someone shoots at you, there is not much time for dialogue, there’s not much time for diagnosis. We tried that. We tried that for about an hour, and he refused to come out. Again, he has a history of this, he has threatened his wife and instead of giving up and listening to commands, he decides to come out with a handgun, point that handgun at deputies and shoots.”

The deputies involved in the incident returned fire with at least a dozen rounds fired, according to Simmons. The deputies involved in the shooting also stated in their FDLE investigation interviews that West fired first or “raised his firearm toward deputies.”

“Unfortunately, Mr. Colin West is deceased,” Simmons said. “This is not the way we wanted it to end. We gave him plenty of opportunities. He chose not to take those opportunities.”

According to the FDLE, during their investigation of the crime scene and review of both in-car and body camera footage, no evidence was found that West “actually fired his handgun during the incident in question.”