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After several hours of deliberation, a coroner's inquest jury ruled Monday night that a fatal shooting outside a Missoula strip club on Labor Day was "legally justified."

Jurors were tasked with recommending whether charges should be filed against Michael Gordon, who fatally shot Louisiana resident Christopher Hymel after an altercation in the Fox Club parking lot.

About 6:30 p.m., the jury of seven men and one woman, including an alternate, handed their decision to Missoula County Sheriff Carl Ibsen.

"His death was not caused by criminal means and we find that the use of deadly force by Michael Gordon was legally justified under Montana law," Ibsen read.

Before the jury went into deliberations, the packed courtroom heard from Gordon himself, who sobbed while giving his account of shooting.

"I didn't do anything. I didn't say anything," he said, during his emotional testimony. "I was attacked out of nowhere."

Gordon, who exited the Fox Club a few minutes before Hymel and his group of four friends, was sitting in his running truck when the group walked in front of the vehicle. He said he rolled down the window to say goodbye to the two women, who he had known since childhood.