Gaston County (N.C.) District Attorney Locke Bell acknowledged that, in some ways, the decision he announced on Friday was a foregone conclusion as he knew many of the details beforehand.

A North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation report delivered to Bell about a week ago showed accused serial killer Patrick Tracy Burris fired first in the early morning hours of July 6 and Bell officially ruled Friday that Gaston County Police Department officers were justified in returning fire and killing him.

But additional details released by Bell showed the situation could have ended far differently if not for the quick thinking of police and some occurrences that could be considered fortuitous, if not completely miraculous.

The first and only bullet Burris fired did strike a Gaston County police officer but amazingly deflected off a pocket knife in the officer’s pocket, limiting the amount of injury to the officer. An inch left or right, however, and Bell said that shot could have had a far worse result.

And when police returned fire, Bell said one of the officer’s bullets struck the muzzle of the pistol Burris was using and actually traveled into the barrel, effectively splitting the gun and preventing Burris from firing any more shots.

Burris was shot and killed at about 3 a.m. inside a home on Dallas-Spencer Mountain Road on July 6 after Gaston County Police were alerted by a neighbor of some suspicious activity at the normally vacant home. Burris went to the home with two others to spend the night.

When police entered the home to take Burris into custody, he was lying on a couch, in the dark, with his back to the officers.

Unbeknownst to police, he had a gun in his hand. He turned and fired at the officers.

After firing at one officer who suffered an injury to his leg, Bell said Burris then turned the gun towards the second of the three officers who entered.

What happened next occurred in a matter of split seconds, as the officers, one of them armed with an electronic stun gun and the others armed with conventional weaponry, returned fire.

One officer’s bullet struck Burris’ gun. One officer’s bullet struck Burris in the head. One officer’s bullet struck Burris in the heart.

Bell said investigators didn’t try to match those bullets to determine which of the officers’ guns they came from.

While the investigation provided details that hadn’t been public knowledge before, it didn’t give any insight into why Burris targeted Cherokee County for a crime spree that claimed five lives between June 27 and July 4.

“The investigation was not into who Burris was, but the (police) shooting itself,” Bell said. “The question was whether the shooting was justified.”

In a case with many unanswered questions, at least this question was answered.

“The police followed standard operating procedure,” Bell said. “Their police training and quick thinking saved them.”

But the fact remains the situation could have ended far differently, Bell said. “It came within second of one or more police officers being killed.”

Asked what the public could glean from the investigation, Bell said, “I think they need to know how dangerous police work can be and how close this was to being a disaster.”