CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A West Virginia police officer who was fired after he refused to shoot a man who had a gun has settled a lawsuit for $175,000.

The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia announced the settlement with the city of Weirton on Monday.

In the lawsuit, Stephen Mader said he did nothing wrong in May 2016 when he tried to persuade 23-year-old R.J. Williams of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, to put down his weapon. Another officer later saw Williams with his gun raised and fatally shot him. Williams’ gun was unloaded. Mader said he determined Williams wanted to die by “suicide by cop.”

Mader still maintains his firing was unjustified. In the statement, he said he was “happy to put this chapter of my life to bed. My hope is that no other person on either end of a police call has to go through this again.”

Weirton City Manager Travis Blosser said Monday that the city stands by Mader’s firing. Officials in Weirton, an Ohio River community of 19,000 residents 36 miles west of Pittsburgh, had said Mader was fired eight weeks after the shooting for conduct unbecoming of an officer in three separate incidents.

“We still feel we made the correct decision,” Blosser said in a telephone interview. “We don’t regret that decision. We feel we made the correct decision for the community.”

Blosser said the decision to settle the lawsuit was made by the city’s insurance carrier.

Williams was black and Mader is white. The shooting occurred in the midst of a national debate about whether race figures into law enforcement in the black community.

The lawsuit contended Mader was fired specifically for the Williams incident. Mader had said he would have done nothing differently. The lawsuit cited the state constitution, which prohibits a police officer from using deadly force unless the officer has reason to believe the target of such force poses an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury to the officer or others.

According to the lawsuit, Mader responded to a call from Williams’ girlfriend that he was threatening to hurt himself with a knife. Mader said his Marine Corps and police officer training taught him to assess a threat level. He said Williams was visibly upset but not aggressive or violent.

Mader believed Williams did not pose a risk of death or serious bodily injury to himself or others. After Mader ordered Williams to drop his unloaded gun, Williams responded, “I can’t do that. Just shoot me,” according to the lawsuit.

Two other officers arrived and when Williams raised his gun, one of the officers fatally shot Williams in the head. Investigations found the officer did nothing wrong.

Mader’s lead attorney, Timothy O’Brien of Pittsburgh, said in the statement that Mader’s attempt to de-escalate the situation “should have been praised, not punished. Simply put, no police officer should ever feel forced to take a life unnecessarily to save his career.”

Mader’s personnel file, previously obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request, included an investigative report by a Weirton police captain who wrote that Williams presented “a clear and present danger” to others and recommended Mader’s firing for several incidents.

In March 2016, Mader was issued a verbal warning for opening a car door to place a parking ticket inside without having a search warrant and cursing at the car owner’s wife. A disorderly conduct charge against the owner was later dropped.

A month later, Mader responded to a call about a cardiac arrest and found a woman dead on a stairway. Mader determined the victim died of natural causes. He didn’t fill out a police report, collected no evidence and the body was sent to a funeral home. Police Chief Rob Alexander called the handling of the suspicious death “unacceptable,” and an autopsy determined the victim sustained blunt force trauma to the neck and upper torso. 

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A gunman killed four people at two separate locations in Kentucky before turning the gun on himself, according to officials.

 (WYMT via NNS)

A gunman shot and killed four people at two locations Saturday afternoon in Johnson County, Ky., before turning the gun on himself, authorities said.

The county sheriff’s office identified the killer as Joseph Nickell, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. The names of the four victims were not immediately released.

“This has been a horrific murder spree. The lives of four innocent victims were taken. The perpetrator then took his own life,” Sheriff Dwayne Price wrote in a Facebook post Saturday night.

“There are no words to describe the heartbreak in seeing four lives taken due to the actions of one man,” Price wrote. “I have worked in law enforcement for 34 years. This is one of the most disturbing acts of violence I have ever seen.”

Joseph Nickell, who authorities said was behind the killings of four people in Kentucky on Saturday.

 (Facebook)

Price wrote that police in Paintsville received a 911 call at 3:33 p.m. about a shooting in the McKenzie Branch neighborhood.

When the sheriff and two deputies arrived at the scene, they found two dead bodies in the kitchen of an apartment, the Herald-Leader reported. Pictures posted to Facebook by Nickell show he had a gun collection.

A picture posted by Joseph Nickell of several weapons he owned.

 (Facebook)

During their investigation, authorities received a tip about a vehicle at an apartment complex elsewhere in Paintsville. When officers arrived, they found two more bodies, plus that of Nickell, WKYT-TV reported.

Authorities determined that Nickell fatally shot the four other people, the station reported.

Price said his office is working the case along with Kentucky State Police.

“Working a murder is never easy,” Price said. “Working the murders of four innocent people that are part of your community is even tougher.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Three people were killed and four critically injured when a helicopter touring through the Grand Canyon National Park crashed and exploded in a fireball, officials told ABC News.

As investigators tried to figure out what caused the Papillion aerial-touring company helicopter to crash, a witness described to ABC News watching in disbelief as one of the survivors walk out of the flames.

Teddy Fujimoto

Witness Lionel Douglass, who was attending a wedding on bluff about 1,000 yards away from where the helicopter crashed and exploded, said the scene reminded him of the biblical story of when Jesus rescued Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego from a fiery furnace they were cast into by King Nebuchadnezzer.

“I had taken my phone and I was zooming in to see if I could see anybody and a lady walked out of the flames and I just lost it,” Douglass told ABC News.

The helicopter “sustained substantial damage” when the crash occurred “under unknown circumstances” in the Quartermaster Canyon area of the immense wilderness wonderland on Saturday afternoon, FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer told ABC News.

Kenitzer said the helicopter crashed about 3 miles east of the Grand Canyon West Airport in Peach Springs, Arizona.

Teddy Fujimoto

Video taken by witnesses shortly after the crash and posted on Twitter showed the helicopter engulfed in flames and black smoke, surrounded by sage and cactus at the bottom of a steep, rocky canyon.

Douglass told ABC News that he saw the helicopter plummet from the sky after doing two complete circles as if the pilot was searching for a spot to set the aircraft down.

“It happened so fast. When I saw them turning, I wasn’t sure what he was doing and by the time I yelled to everybody to turn around and look, it was all out of control,” Douglass said. “It fell down between the mountains, the tail broke in half, it hit the bottle and it was the biggest explosion you ever heard and then flames like you never seen before.”

He said the initial explosion was followed by five or six other.

Teddy Fujimoto

He said the woman who staggered out of the flames appeared to be disoriented. Once out of harm’s way she collapsed to the ground and began screaming the name Jason.

Hualapai Nation Police Chief Francis Bradley told ABC News that the crash occurred at 5:20 p.m. local time, with six passengers and 1 pilot on board.

It is unclear if the pilot is among the injured or deceased.

The four who survived the crash were taken by rescue helicopter to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada and remained in critical condition on Sunday afternoon, hospital spokeswoman Danita Cohen told ABC News.

Teddy Fujimoto

According to Papillion’s website, it flies roughly 600,000 passengers a year over the Grand Canyon and on other tours.

ABC News reached out to Papillion for comment and was told by a spokeswoman on Sunday afternoon that the company is preparing a statement.

ABC News’ Rex Sakamoto and Lucien Bruggeman contributed to this report.

President TrumpDonald John TrumpTillerson: Russia already looking to interfere in 2018 midterms Dems pick up deep-red legislative seat in Missouri Speier on Trump’s desire for military parade: ‘We have a Napoleon in the making’ MORE said in an interview published Sunday that both Israelis and Palestinians are playing roles in hindering peace in the region. 

“Right now, I would say the Palestinians are not looking to make peace, they are not looking to make peace. And I am not necessarily sure that Israel is looking to make peace. So we are just going to have to see what happens,” Trump told Israel Hayom.

“I think both sides will have to make hard compromises to reach a peace agreement,” the president said. 

Trump went on to say that controversial Israeli land settlements have played a role in muddling the peace process. 

“We will be talking about settlements. The settlements are something that very much complicates and always have complicated making peace, so I think Israel has to be very careful with the settlements,” he told Israel Hayom. 

Trump threatened to cut additional aid to Palestinians last month after the U.S. announced it was withholding $65 million in aid to the United Nations agency that serves Palestinian refugees. 

“That money is on the table and that money is not going to them unless they sit down and negotiate peace,” Trump said last month beside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Trump drew the ire of Palestinians and the international community in December when he announced the U.S. would recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. 

Palestinians view East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. 

Kim Cattrall is done hearing from Sarah Jessica Parker.

“My Mom asked me today ‘When will that @sarahjessicaparker, that hypocrite, leave you alone?’”  Cattrall wrote on Instagram on Saturday morning. “Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now.”

The former “Sex and the City” star whose brother was found dead last week made it clear to SJP that her condolences aren’t welcome in the post that read: “I don’t need your love or support at this tragic time @sarahjessicaparker.”

Tales of the former co-stars’ apparent rocky relationship have resurfaced as Cattrall announced that she has no interest in starring in a third installment of the series’ movies and further said that Parker and her “were never friends.”

Still, Parker, “heartbroken” by Cattrall’s statement, responded to her social media announcement of the loss of her brother who was found dead over the weekend.

“Dearest Kim, my love and condolences to you and yours and Godspeed to your beloved brother,” Parker commented.

But in Cattrall’s latest post, she accused Parker of selfishly trying to protect her own image.

“Let me make this VERY clear. (If I haven’t already) You are not my family. You are not my friend. So I’m writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your ‘nice girl’ persona.”

To end her angry message, Cattrall left a link to a New York Post story titled: “Inside the mean-girls culture that destroyed ‘Sex and the City’.”

A rep for Parker did not immediately return our request for comment.

Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand speaks during the opening of the summit on Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking on Feb. 2 at the Justice Department.

Jose Luis Magana/AP

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Jose Luis Magana/AP

Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand speaks during the opening of the summit on Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking on Feb. 2 at the Justice Department.

Jose Luis Magana/AP

Updated at 7:11 p.m. ET

The No. 3 official at the Justice Department will be stepping down after less than a year, leaving a key vacancy in the succession of people who are tasked with overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The Justice Department announced Friday evening that Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand will be leaving her job in the coming weeks to take a position in the private sector. A source told NPR that Brand, who was sworn in last May, has been in talks about becoming the top lawyer at Walmart.

Other sources said Brand has chafed for months at the limits of her post at DOJ. President Trump has repeatedly attacked the law enforcement agency and sought to cast doubt on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Her role at the Justice Department was doubly important because Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from the Russia investigation, given his role with the Trump campaign. That left Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein overseeing Mueller’s investigation, and Trump and GOP allies have attacked Rosenstein at times.

Scrutiny of Rosenstein from conservatives allied with Trump escalated last week after a Republican memo authored by House intelligence committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., detailed how Justice Department and FBI officials including Rosenstein authorized surveillance on Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page, who had contact with Russians.

Asked last Friday after the memo’s release whether he still had confidence in Rosenstein, Trump responded, “You figure that one out,” raising the specter he might fire the deputy attorney general. However, the White House quickly denied any plans to remove Rosenstein. But if he was let go, that would have left Brand next in line to oversee Mueller’s investigation, among Rosenstein’s other responsibilities.

“The men and women of the Department of Justice impress me every day,” Brand said in a statement. “I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish over my time here. I want to thank Attorney General Sessions for his leadership over this Department. I’ve seen firsthand his commitment to the rule of law and to keeping the American people safe.”

Sessions also praised her work, calling her a “lawyer’s lawyer.”

“I know the entire Department of Justice will miss her, but we join together in congratulating her on this new opportunity in the private sector. She will always remain a part of the Department of Justice family,” Sessions said in a statement.

Brand is an expert in national security and helped defend the administration’s efforts to renew a foreign surveillance law. But she had a relatively small staff and a portfolio of issues that focused mostly on civil litigation, civil rights and other issues. In recent months, Brand delivered speeches in the administration’s fight against human trafficking.

Her office oversees the Antitrust Division, the Civil Division, the Environment and Natural Resources Division, the Tax Division, the Office of Justice Programs, the Community Oriented Policing Services, the Community Relations Service, the Office of Dispute Resolution, the Office of Violence Against Women, the Office of Information and Privacy, the Executive Office for United States Trustees and the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission.

Brand was also a top Justice Department official in the George W. Bush administration, helping pick nominees for federal judgeships. And she previously clerked for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.

“Rachel Brand is a lawyer of the highest caliber and integrity. I was proud to work for her in the Bush administration when she ran the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy and was proud to call her a colleague at [George Mason University’s] Scalia Law School,” national security expert and adjunct law professor Jamil Jaffer told NPR. “I’m certain that she’ll do great things going forward and will be in public service again in the near future.”

The news of Brand’s departure was first reported by the New York Times.