John Capano/atf photo

A retired police lieutenant who shot and killed an ATF agent at a pharmacy on New Year’s Eve will not be charged because the force was justified, the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office announced, reports the Associated Press.

ATF agent John Capano, 51, was buying medicine for his cancer-stricken when he intervened in a robbery.

But when the agent’s gun went off during a scuffle with the robber, retired Nassau Police Lt. Christopher Geraghty believed his life was in danger when he accidentally fatally shot Capano in the chest, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said.

Geraghy was in a deli in Searford, about 20 miles east of New York City, with an off-duty New York City police officer when the pair responded to the robbery.

The off-duty cop, Joseph Arbia, killed the robbery suspect.

Capano, an explosives expert, was the first ATF agent killed by gunfire in the line of duty since raid on Waco, Texas, in 1993.

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