WHEELING — City police said Tyrone Thompson was driving aggressively on Wheeling Island the evening of March 19 when a pedestrian gestured at him from the sidewalk. Thompson stopped his vehicle and a fight ensued between the two; Thompson ended up dead from gunshot wounds.

That’s what Wheeling Police Department investigators determined as the course of events that led to Thompson’s death, as the department on Thursday released its findings to the public.

The shooter claimed self-defense, and has been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in Thompson’s death after an Ohio County grand jury this week, when presented with investigators’ findings, did not find probable cause to indict him.

The Intelligencer is not naming the shooter since he is not facing charges.

Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger said Thursday that the department wanted to release its findings so the public has more information as to what happened, rather than allowing the perception that a grand jury met behind closed doors and made a decision.

“I did think it was important to know that these are some of the facts. It’s not a secretive grand jury that declined to prosecute, and now we’re done talking about it. I think the public deserves to know this,” he said.

According to the police department’s investigation, at 7:27 p.m. Saturday, March 19, officers responded to two 911 calls in the 100 block of South Huron Street on Wheeling Island. Officers met with one of the callers who told police he shot a man in self-defense. The shooter was initially detained and provided a statement. Later that evening, he was released from police custody.

Police said Thompson, 35, suffered from multiple gunshot wounds. He was transported to WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital where he later died. The West Virginia Medical Examiner’s Office determined two gunshot wounds in Thompson’s upper torso as the cause of death.

Investigators determined, through witness accounts, that Thompson was driving a vehicle in an aggressive manner on South Huron Street on March 19. During that time, the shooter made a gesture to Thompson from the sidewalk. Thompson then stopped his car in the 100 block of South Huron Street and approached the shooter on the sidewalk, police said, where a fight ensued.

As the fight continued, the shooter ended up on his back, and then fired three shots, two of them fatally wounding Thompson, according to investigators’ findings. No outside video captured the altercation.

According to a toxicology report, Schwertfeger said, Thompson’s blood alcohol level was above the legal limit, though he did not say how far above the limit. No other illicit substances were found. The results of the report came back late last week, just days before the grand jury convened.

“The prosecutor’s office went ahead and put the case on the docket prior to the (medical examiner)’s report, just based on what we knew from the preliminary autopsy,” Schwertfeger said, “but it worked out well, because we had everything from the medical examiner prior to the grand jury.”

Thompson was unarmed in the fight, Schwertfeger said. However, West Virginia’s stand-your-ground laws, and the fact that the shooter had been legally carrying his weapon, added complexity to the investigation.

“This was a very difficult case, because the way the laws are written, and the fact that people have a right to stand their ground, have a right to not only openly carry, but concealed carry in the state of West Virginia, those are all issues,” Schwertfeger said. “Clearly this was not a premeditated homicide.

“Whether or not one believes the shooter was in fear of his life, that was the matter of debate. The grand jury felt that he could have been, and declined to certify any charges.”

Thompson and the shooter had no prior relationship, according to police.

Much of the investigation, Schwertfeger said, involved chasing rumors and theories swirling on social media. Most of those turned out to be baseless or false. One such rumor, according to the report, was inaccurate social media posts suggesting six gunshots were fired. Police determined the video with the suspected six gunshots was captured an hour before the shooting happened and is unrelated to the actual incident.

Many facts released, Schwertfeger said, were provided by the shooter and one witness, corroborated by forensic data.

“A large chunk of it, quite honestly, was chasing ghosts because of social media rumors and whatnot,” Schwertfeger said. “Sometimes those are very worthy to further examine, and we’re always going to examine those, but those certainly caused the investigation by the detectives to take a little longer, because you’ve got to verify and chase down things.”

Schwertfeger added that the flurry of social media activity regarding the shooting did not impede the investigation itself, and that despite the slew of unproductive leads, investigators were able to assemble a complete account of the evening.

“The investigation was top notch, working with the prosecutor’s office from the get-go, and we had two of our best detectives on it,” he said.

Members of Thompson’s family could not be reached for comment Thursday. In a statement released following the grand jury’s decision Monday, the family said it was “hurt” and “let down” by the city.

“Tyrone didn’t get a chance to tell his side of the story,” they wrote. “How does a man walk away from a situation in which he claims to have been fighting for his life and only have a few superficial scratches? How does a 30-second altercation cause an unarmed man to lose his life due to multiple gunshot wounds?

“Tyrone was a father, a son, a brother, a nephew, an uncle, a cousin, a fiance and a friend to so many,” the statement continued. “He had a heart of gold and loved everyone. Now the family is left to pick up the pieces with no understanding of why or how this is fair. This state should be ashamed, because this gives off the impression that one can simply be knocked down and have the right to shoot to kill.”