Then-Weirton police officer Stephen Mader was let go after a May 6 incident in which he said he tried to talk Ronald D. “R.J.” Williams Jr. out of harming himself.

“I thought I was going to be able to talk to him and deescalate it,” Mader, an ex-Marine, told The Post-Gazette. “I knew it was suicide-by-cop.”

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“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,’” Mader said.

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Eventually, two other officers arrived and one of them shot and killed Williams Jr., hitting him in the back of the head, just behind his right ear, The Post-Gazette reported.

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The shooting was deemed justified, but Mader was terminated because he “failed to eliminate a threat,”
according to his June 6 termination letter. Mader is now working toward getting a commercial license to drive trucks.

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