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Need proof that police have a license to kill? A West Virginia police officer has been fired from his job for not shooting and killing a domestic violence suspect.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that Weirton, W. Va. police officer Stephen Mader was placed on administrative leave and later terminated for not “eliminating a threat” back in May.

According to Mader, he was responding to a domestic violence call on May 6 and found himself confronting an armed man, 23-year old Ronald D. “R.J.” Williams Jr. Mader says that he saw that Williams had a gun on his hip, but that it was not pointed at him. It was then that he decided that he was going to try to talk to the suspect in his “calm voice” instead of just shoot him dead.

Mader says, “I told him, ‘Put down the gun,’ and he’s like, ‘Just shoot me.’ And I told him, ‘I’m not going to shoot you brother.’ Then he starts flicking his wrist to get me to react to it. I thought I was going to be able to talk to him and deescalate it.”

He was wrong.

Moments later two other Weirton, W. Va. police officers arrived on the scene. Williams began waving his gun at them and they did what most cops do in that situation, they shot him in the head. In the back of the head to be exact.

Williams’s gun was later found to be unloaded.

A month-long investigation conducted by other cops found that the shooting was justified. Mader says that he tried to return to his job on May 17 after taking the mandated time away after an officer-involved shooting, but was directed to speak with Weirton Police Chief Rob Alexander.

Mader says he was told, “We’re putting you on administrative leave and we’re going to do an investigation to see if you are going to be an officer here. You put two other officers in danger.” Mader says he responded, “Look, I didn’t shoot him because he said, ‘Just shoot me.’ ”

Weeks later he was handed a notice of termination saying that he was fired for not shooting Mr. Williams because he “failed to eliminate a threat.”

Mader doesn’t think his fellow police officers were wrong for shooting a man who was waving a gun at them. But he does feel wronged for getting fired.

“They did not have the information I did,” he tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “They don’t know anything I heard. All they know is [Mr. Williams] is waving a gun at them. It’s a shame it happened the way it did, but, I don’t think they did anything wrong.”

Mader may not think his co-workers did anything “wrong” but it is an head-scratcher how he was fired for trying use his training and deescalate the situation and ultimately blamed for for putting two other officers, who weren’t on the scene initially “in danger.”

The two other officers returned to work weeks after the shooting and are still employed with the department.

Photo: WENN