Officer cleared in Lehigh shooting

No charges will be filed against a former Marion police officer involved in the June 20 shooting death of Robb Stewart of Lehigh.

Stewart was reported to be intoxicated, armed, and suicidal when officers responded to his Lehigh home and surrounded a workshop he was in behind the residence.

According to a press release issued Friday, county attorney Courtney Boehm said Stewart opened the door of the workshop and had a silver revolver in his hand. Stewart did not comply with shouted commands, was observed raising the firearm toward an officer, then retreated back into the workshop, Boehm said.

When the door of the workshop opened a second time, Stewart still had the gun in his hand, Boehm said. He again did not comply with shouted demands and raised the firearm, prompting the Marion officer, previously identified by this newspaper as Lee Vogel, to fire five shots from an AR-15 .223 caliber rifle.

Autopsy results revealed Stewart died from a gunshot that struck him in the right side of his lower face and neck. Blood tests confirmed Stewart was intoxicated.

“The Marion Police Officer was scared for the safety of himself, other law enforcement on scene, and civilians he heard in the area,” Boehm said in the release. “The officer acted in an objectively reasonable manner in defending himself and the other law enforcement officers present on the scene.”

Additional information regarding the incident and decision will be published Wednesday in the Marion County Record, Hillsboro Star-Journal, and Peabody Gazette-Bulletin.