Deadly shooting of man who pointed gun at Rayningham police acquitted, prosecutor rules

Editor’s Note: This article contains discussions suicide

The Raynham police officers acted lawfully when they fshot a man near his apartment Minutes after he pointed the gun at them in April, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn ruled.

Officers were sent to Stephen McLeanto an apartment at 501 King Phillip St. at 11:49 a.m. on April 30. McLean had been arrested the day before for harassing a neighbor and was released after being charged. On April 30, police learned McLean continued to harass the neighbor and attempted to take him into custody, according to report prepared by Quinn’s office.

Police arrived at McLean’s apartment complex shortly before noon and knocked on his apartment door. When the officer tried to open the door, McLean slammed it shut, prompting police to begin trying to talk him out of the apartment.

Later, “without warning”, McLean opened the apartment door with a black semi-automatic handgun in his hand. He then pointed a gun at an officer standing in front of him, prompting one officer to fire a Taser and two others to fire their handguns, according to the report.

McLean was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead at 1:24 p.m

A day before the shooting, a neighbor called police to report McLean stalking them. The caller told police there was an ongoing court case against McLean’s ex-girlfriend, and McLean was scheduled to testify that day, but when he arrived at the courthouse, he was intoxicated. After the case continued, the caller said McLean started knocking on his apartment.

When officers tried to arrest McLean for witness intimidation, he “took a fighting stance.” He was taken into custody after police pointed a gun at him, according to the report.

McLean was arraigned and released the same day. The next day, the same caller told police that McLean was banging on his apartment door again, and that officers ended up killing him, the report said.

After the shooting, investigators determined McLean did not legally own a gun and was barred from obtaining a gun license due to prior felony convictions.

McLean’s ex-girlfriend told police he began to “experience problems” with drugs and alcohol, which led to a deterioration in his mental health, shortly after they began a relationship in 2022. He “started abusing steroids and other drugs,” and the ex-girlfriend told police she believed his psychiatrist had prescribed meds that weren’t helping him.

On the morning of the shooting, hours before police arrived, McLean came to her apartment and told her he wanted to die, according to the report. She told police he had made similar statements in the past and that she believed he had bought the gun from another resident of the apartment complex.

McLean lost his job on the morning of April 30 after acting out of character in the workplace and was found with mini bottles of alcohol. The employee reported McLean claimed to have a gun on him.

McLean robbed a bank in New Bedford in 2017 and pulled a black object from his waistband while being chased by police, Quinn said in the report. McLean pointed an object, later revealed to be a cell phone, at the officers as if it were a gun and was beaten and arrested. He asked the officers, “Why didn’t you shoot me?” and said: “I want to die.”

McLean also attempted suicide when he was detained at Bristol County Correctional Facility that year.

The report states that the responding officers had “reasonable fear for their own safety and the safety of their fellow officers” and had probable cause to arrest him for witness intimidation.

When McLean exited his apartment, “the threat of deadly force … was immediately apparent and imminent,” and officers had no opportunity to de-escalate the situation, the report concluded. Officers used “only the force necessary to neutralize the threat” McLean posed at the time, and when it became clear he had dropped the gun, officers stopped shooting.

The body camera video “corroborates the officer’s assertions that it was Mr. McLean’s unprovoked and violent actions that required Raynham officers to use deadly force,” the report said. “In view of all the facts and circumstances of this event, there are no grounds for concluding that the police officers who arrived committed an offense. The fatal shooting of Stephen McLean was justified.”

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