A Greenville County deputy who shot a Simpsonville homeowner through his front-door window has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing.

The State Law Enforcement Division investigated the shooting and submitted findings to the state Attorney General's Office, which recommended that no criminal charges be filed against Deputy Kevin Azzara.

"It is my legal opinion that the officer used lawful force under the circumstances. As such, we are not recommending initiation of criminal charges against the officer," Jerrod Fussnecker, an assistant attorney general, wrote in a disposition letter to SLED that was obtained by The Greenville News.

The man, Dick Tench, plans to file a lawsuit against the Sheriff's Office, his lawyer told The News on Wednesday.

"He wants to seek justice and if it was up to Dick, this officer would no longer be on the force," Ashmore said Wednesday. "Dick wants to tell his story and wants his story to get out, and one day that will happen in a jury trial setting."

On June 14, Azzara responded to an alarm call at a home on Eastcrest Drive in Simpsonville. Azzara approached the front door and saw a man inside holding a firearm, then discharged his firearm through the front door window.

Azarra struck the Tench in the pelvis and aortic artery, according to Tench's attorney, Beattie Ashmore. Tench was the homeowner and is a concealed weapons permit holder, Ashmore said. Two other bullets grazed Tench's side, Ashmore said.

Tench has recovered slowly, and one bullet will remain permanently lodged in his body, Ashmore has told The News. He spent the first 30 days of his recovery with both bullets in his body, he said.

Prior to the SLED investigation's completion, Azzara was cleared of any policy violations through an internal-affairs investigation with the Greenville County Sheriff's Office.

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Records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request showed that Azzara had been involved in a prior fatal shooting in 2017. He was one of multiple deputies who shot Joseph Inabinet, who had been outside his estranged wife's Fountain Inn home in a domestic disturbance case. A wrongful death lawsuit filed by Inabinet's widow is pending.

In that incident, Azzara fired 10 rounds from his rifle, striking 50-year-old Inabinet, who held a pellet gun outside the home and threatened “suicide by cop” during an argument with his estranged wife, according to the investigative case file from SLED.

According to Azzara's personnel file, he is also responsible for shooting three dogs, including Inabinet's dog in 2016 during another call to the same Fountain Inn residence.

Azzara started working for the Sheriff's Office in 2008. It was his first job in law enforcement in South Carolina, according to his background file from the state Criminal Justice Academy.

The News has submitted a request for SLED's case file in the Tench shooting.

After the initial shooting, the Sheriff's Office reported that Tench opened the front door and pointed a firearm directly at Azzara before Azzara discharged his weapon. Body camera clips released to the public via the Sheriff's Office's YouTube channel 45 days later showed that Tench never opened the door and that Azzara shot through a front window.

The Sheriff's Office issued a corrected statement about the nature of the shooting after The News reported on the discrepancy.

Azzara's attorney, Michael Laubshire, did not immediately return a phone call Wednesday.

Tench is still under the care of physicians. A bullet lodged in his pelvis will remain there for the rest of his life, Ashmore said.

"He's having ups and downs with his recovery," he said. The fact that Azzara was cleared of all wrongdoing was a setback for him, Ashmore said. "Dick is disappointed. He is confused."

Check back with greenvilleonline.com for more on this developing story.

Daniel J. Gross is an investigative watchdog reporter focusing on public safety and law enforcement for The Greenville News. Reach him at dgross@greenvillenews.com or on Twitter @danieljgross.

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