The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently upheld a district court’s summary judgment order in favor of an Indiana police officer despite an unclear sequence of events regarding when the officer fired the fatal shots and when the suspect was no longer armed.

The Estate of Eric Jack Logan, deceased, appealed the order by U.S. District Judge Damon R. Leichty of the Northern District of Indiana in favor of South Bend Police Officer Ryan O’Neill. The estate acknowledged that Logan approached O’Neill with a hunting knife and threw it at the officer—striking him—but the estate claimed the officer’s statements about the timing of the events and other evidence could lead a reasonable jury to doubt that deadly force was necessary, according to the court’s opinion filed Oct. 3.