A man was fatally shot Friday morning by deputies in southwest Missouri who responded to a convenience store theft near Springfield, according to a sheriff there.
The shooting happened shortly after Green County Sheriff’s deputies were called around 8:15 a.m. to the store just southwest of Springfield for a report of a woman stealing from the store, Sheriff Jim Arnott told television station KY3.
The store clerk identified the woman as having been involved in an earlier theft, and deputies learned she had run across the road to an abandoned house, where they found and arrested her.
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Deputies said they then encountered a man who was holding a gun to his head who told them, "shoot me, I’m not going back," Arnott said. The deputies shot the man when he lunged at them, according to the sheriff.
It's unclear whether the man fired the gun at deputies, Arnott said. His department and several other sheriff's departments are investigating the shooting, he said.
Arnott has not released the names of the man or the deputies and did not immediately return email and phone messages left Friday by The Associated Press.
