Officer Who Shot Armed Man Is Cleared : Simi Valley: District attorney’s office finds Jeff McGreevy’s action justifiable. Drunk, gun-wielding victim suffered multiple wounds.

A Simi Valley police officer who shot a drunk, armed man in a quiet residential neighborhood two months ago was cleared of wrongdoing Monday, even though the officer and the victim refused to talk to prosecutors about the incident.

In a 53-page report, prosecutors said Wesley Simpson was shot three times in front of his Mellow Lane home Feb. 11 because he was drunk, depressed and armed with a rifle and handgun.

Officer Jeff McGreevy told a department sergeant that he shot the former owner of an antiques store in self-defense with a 12-gauge shotgun in Simi’s Bridle Path neighborhood after the 42-year-old man pointed the rifle at him.

But prosecutors say they were unable to corroborate that story because both McGreevy and Simpson exercised their right not to be interviewed by the district attorney’s office.

What prosecutors were able to establish, according to the supervisor of the major crimes bureau, is that Simpson was in possession of the firearms and not in control of his emotions.

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According to prosecutors’ findings, Simpson was on antidepressant drugs and had a blood-alcohol level of 0.28% at the time of the shooting. That level is more than three times the legal limit for driving in California.

“It’s a sad example of what can happen when you combine intoxicants with firearms and people who are extremely depressed,” said Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard E. Holmes.

Simpson, who on Monday declined comment on the district attorney’s findings, sustained multiple pellet wounds, including two that went through his upper right shoulder, one to the right forearm, one to the groin, four to the buttocks and wounds in each leg. He underwent six surgeries.

Robert Huber, his attorney, said a private investigator he hired came to a different conclusion than did prosecutors.

A former deputy district attorney himself, Huber said he did not expect prosecutors to come to any other conclusion because of their close relationship with police.

“This is one law enforcement agency complementing another,” he said.

Huber added that Simpson is considering filing a lawsuit against the Simi Valley Police Department.

Simpson’s wife, Carolyn, said her husband is confined to a wheelchair. Doctors have predicted it will take him a year to recuperate, she said, adding that the family had not yet read the district attorney’s findings.

Citing the threat of legal action, police officials were reluctant to discuss the case. They also said their own investigation into the shooting had not been wrapped up.

Lt. Tony Harper, a department spokesman, said police officials agreed with the findings that the shooting was justifiable.

According to the prosecutor’s report, prepared by Deputy Dist. Atty. Donna K. Gissing, Simpson had been drinking for most of the day before the shooting. After his teen-age son complained about his drinking, Simpson threatened suicide, saying the boy and his two other children did not love him, the report stated.

Eventually, Simpson, the former owner of Heartland Antiques in Simi Valley, retrieved guns in the house and locked himself in his bedroom with the weapons. After one of his two sons by a previous wife called their mother, Simpson became enraged.

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When police arrived at the home, an armed Simpson walked outdoors and started banging on his daughter’s car, which was parked in the yard.

McGreevy told a sergeant he ordered Simpson to drop his weapon, but Simpson pointed the rifle at the officer. Later, McGreevy told the same sergeant that Simpson did not point the gun at him, but pointed it at the car in the yard, the report said.

McGreevy told the sergeant, Arch Morgan, that he believed Simpson’s youngest son, who was 11, might have been inside the vehicle.

McGreevy, who refused to walk through his actions with investigators on the advice of his attorney, told police supervisors that he was frightened during the incident. He did not return a message left with his supervisor.

Staff writer Sara Catania and correspondent Ira E. Stoll contributed to this story.