HUNTINGTON, Ind. — Investigators have determined that a man fatally shot by northeastern Indiana police officers didn’t fire any shots as they originally believed, state police said.
Huntington officers were called about 3:30 a.m. Sunday where they found 36-year-old Matthew Melzoni of Wabash operating a type of backhoe and destroying property in a neighborhood. Officers followed the backhoe as Melzoni continued damaging property before he was shot, state police said.
State police Sgt. Brian Walker said investigators found that no “exchange of gunfire” happened with Melzoni but that officers felt Melzoni’s actions with the backhoe made him “an imminent danger to both police officers and civilians.”
A Huntington officer was also shot during the confrontation and taken to a Fort Wayne hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
The Huntington County prosecutor has stepped aside and Whitley County Prosecutor D.J. Sigler has been assigned to review the shooting.
Walker said state police investigators expected to submit their findings to Sigler within the next few days.
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