SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) – Authorities have provided new details into the deadly shooting of a local youth football coach.

Payton North, spokesperson for the Hampden District Attorney’s Office, said no criminal charges will be filed in relation to the deadly shooting of 35-year-old Robert Murchison of Springfield on Fairfield Street on July 5. The decision comes following an investigation by the D.A.’s office into the incident, which included reviewing interviews, 911 calls, and physical evidence.

The investigation reportedly found that the shooting began as a social media dispute, which led Murchison to allegedly travel to the home of a man and woman whom he knew. A physical fight was reportedly “initiated by Murchison with the male homeowner on his personal property,” North explained. Murchison then reportedly showed a gun and pursued the man while pointing the firearm at him.

“The involved male’s wife, a licensed firearm owner, who witnessed her husband facing imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury, discharged a single round, striking [Murchinson],” North explained. The homeowners then reportedly called 911 immediately and cooperated with the investigation.

After reviewing evidence including accounts of the incident by those involved and a witness, doorbell camera video, 911 calls, physical evidence from the scene, and text and social media messages exchanged prior to the shooting, investigators reportedly found that “the evidence clearly establishes that the female party acted in lawful self-defense and defense of another only after [Murchinson] arrived at her and her husband’s home, engaged in a physical altercation on their property with her husband, and ultimately produced a firearm and posed an immediate threat to her husband,” North noted.

According to Massachusetts law, deadly force is justified when someone reasonably believes that the force is needed to defend themselves or someone else from an imminent threat of serious injury or death.

North said that the D.A.’s office determined that prosecutors “could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the homeowner’s actions were unlawful,” resulting in the case being closed.

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