Earl Thomas Ashby

Deadly force

Deputies responded to a home on a welfare check. When they arrived they were told Ashby had a gun and had gone into a shed near the home. A person in the home told deputies she heard a gunshot from the shed after Ashby went there. After deputies surrounded the shed and tried to speak with Ashby, the door of the shed suddenly swung open. Ashby came out carrying a handgun. Deputies ordered him to drop the gun and get down onto the ground, but they said Ashby ignored their commands. He moved toward the deputies, raised the gun and pointed it them, and he was shot and killed.