St. James, Minn. – Authorities announced Monday no charges will be filed against a female police officer in this small southern Minnesota town who shot and killed a fleeing criminal suspect in a convenience store six months ago.

The county attorney ruled Assistant Police Chief Rochelle Hanson was justified in shooting Gilberto Salas, 20, of Gaylord, Minnesota, multiple times because he came at her and two fellow officers with a knife.

The finding was based on an investigation by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. It said officers first fired stun guns at Salas in an attempt to stop him, but he continued to move forward, causing Hanson to fire several gunshots at him.

The medical examiner concluded Salas died of a bullet wound to the head. He also had gunshot wounds to the left hip, groin and upper body. Toxicology reports showed he had a blood alcohol content of .055 and evidence of methamphetamine in his system.

“The only reasonable conclusion to be drawn from this set of facts is that Assistant Chief Rochelle Hanson fired on Salas in self-defense and squarely within her rights,” the county attorney wrote in his report on the case.

Hanson, State Patrol trooper Jacob Ruppert, and Sgt. Barry Gulden of the Watonwan County Sheriff’s Office had all been placed on administrative leave while the case was investigated. The scene of the shooting was 100 miles southwest of Minneapolis.

Several local, county and state officers said they pursued Salas at speeds up to 120 mph around noon on Jan. 31 after he was spotted driving a stolen vehicle. They later called off the chase upon learning the identity of the driver.

An hour later they were informed a man resembling Salas had stolen a case of beer from Casey’s General Store, and a new chase ensued but the suspect’s car got stuck in a snow bank, causing him to flee on foot to the store.

The Criminal Bureau’s investigation said officers Hanson, Ruppert and Gulden entered the store, with Gulden firing a shot from his stun gun that struck Salas but did not halt him. The investigators said the officers then found Salas in an office behind the service counter, where he came at them with a knife and ignored commands to drop the weapon.

The investigators said Ruppert and Hanson both fired their stun guns at Salas to no avail, and that’s when Hanson shot him several times with her hand gun. They said a knife was found next to Salas body where he dropped to the floor.

Video cameras inside the store and a camera on Ruppert’s stun gun captured parts of the confrontation but did not show the shooting, authorities said. None of the officers wore body cameras.

Mankato, Minnesota, Free Press reporter Tom Krohn contributed the details for this story. Contact him at tkrohn@mankatofreepress.com.