TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY, N.C. (WSPA) - A North Carolina district attorney said two Transylvania County deputies' use of lethal force was justified in a July shooting that left a man dead.

District Attorney R. Andrew Murray released his findings Tuesday in a letter to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, concluding deputies were legally justified in their use of deadly force in the July 6, 2025, shooting of 30-year-old Raul Alberto Rivera.

Deputies initially responded for a report Rivera was traveling through Pisgah National Forest in his car with a gun and was in an "emotionally stressed state of mind," the district attorney said in his letter.

Rivera's ex-girlfriend reported to 911 she had been in contact with him and that his texts led her to believe that he was planning to h

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