Clark County Prosecutor Tony Golik has determined that a Vancouver police officer acted lawfully when he fatally shot 16-year-old Clayton Joseph while responding to a disturbance call in February.

Golik wrote in his report on police Cpl. Roger Evans’ use of deadly force that Evans clearly stated in an interview with detectives that the moment he fired his gun, he believed Joseph was a man who’d just threatened people with a knife, and he was about to be stabbed himself.

“The physical evidence in this case supports the facts as explained by Officer Evans,” Golik wrote.

“Although the loss of Clayton Joseph’s life was tragic, the conduct of Officer Evans was reasonable, justified and lawful in this case,” Golik concluded.

Evans shot Joseph, who was Micronesian, while responding to multiple 911 calls about a domestic violence disturbance and assault at an apartment complex in the Ellsworth Springs neighborhood Feb. 19.

According to the report, Joesph’s older brother, S. Mate Joseph, was involved in a verbal and physical altercation with his girlfriend at the Sterling Heights apartments, where the family lived after having moved from the Chuuk state of the Federated States of Micronesia. S. Mate Joseph was intoxicated and angry, the report states.