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Perkins, 53, was pointing a "long rifle" at officers and "failed to comply" with demands when police fatally shot him in Wyomissing on March 30, claimed Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams in a release.
"The officers and troopers involved were justified in employing deadly force (...) As a result, the officers and troopers will not be charged with any criminal offenses in connection with the incident that day," the DA wrote.
At the time of his death, Perkins was wanted for arson and sought in connection with a double homicide in New Jersey, Adams said.
He was also suspected in a second double homicide in Philadelphia, according to the release. DA Adams previously claimed Perkins was caught on camera walking up to a porch where two people were sitting and shooting them both.
On March 30, US Marshals alerted authorities in Berks that Perkins' cell phone had been active in the county. Later, around 8:50 p.m., a license plate reader placed his car in Wyomissing Borough, authorities said.
Police tracked him down and tried to pull him over, but Perkins "failed to stop, and a short pursuit ensued," the DA's Office said. The chase ended when the 53-year-old crashed into a woodpile in a backyard on the 900 block of Spring Street, officials wrote.
Officers claimed they gave "verbal commands" instructing Perkins to surrender, before he allegedly "raised a long rifle, pointing it at the officers."
Two local police officers and two state troopers shot him "multiple times," and he was declared dead at the scene by Berks County Deputy Coroner Eric Graeff, the DA said. An autopsy later revealed a gunshot wound to the head as the fatal injury, the release adds.
"Vaughn T. Perkins was on a violent crime spree," DA Adams wrote. "While it is unfortunate that a life was lost, officers involved displayed courage for the protection of the public and each other.”
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