SOUTH PORTLAND (AP) – A pair of district attorneys concluded that two South Portland police officers were legally justified in using deadly force during a standoff with a suicidal man who was armed with a knife in each hand, officials said Tuesday.

Michael Norton, 29, died from a single gunshot early on Aug. 25 outside his home after officers were called to check on him.

Police had taken Norton to a psychiatric hospital a day earlier after his family said he threatened suicide, but he checked himself out.

Norton was again threatening suicide in the final confrontation but this time he had a female companion in the home with him. Eventually, Norton let the woman go before cutting off discussions with a police negotiator and walking outside with a knife in each hand.

Investigators found that Norton verbally challenged officers to shoot him and twice made a circular motion on his chest as if drawing a target for them. All the while, he refused officers’ orders to drop the knives.

As Norton approached officers, Benjamin Macisso fired a single bullet from his .223-caliber rifle and John Sutton fired a beanbag from his .12-gauge pump shotgun, investigators said. Norton was hit by the bullet, but there’s no evidence he was hit by the beanbag.

Maine law allows police officers to use lethal force if they believe it’s necessary to counter the use of deadly force against themselves or others.

Normally, the conclusions about the use of deadly force are reached by the attorney general. But District Attorneys Evert Fowle and Geoffrey Rushlau were asked to evaluate the evidence because Sutton is married to an employee in the attorney general’s office.