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Oklahoma Deputy Robert Bates Says He Had ‘No Desire to Take Anyone’s Life’

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Robert Bates. The 73-year-old Oklahoma reserve sheriff's deputy, who authorities said fatally shot a suspect after confusing his stun gun and handgun, was booked into the county jail on a manslaughter charge in Tulsa, Okla. on April 14, 2015.
Robert Bates. The 73-year-old Oklahoma reserve sheriff's deputy, who authorities said fatally shot a suspect after confusing his stun gun and handgun, was booked into the county jail on a manslaughter charge in Tulsa, Okla. on April 14, 2015.Tulsa County, Oklahoma, Sheriff's Office /AP
By NBC News

The Oklahoma reserve sheriff’s deputy who says he mistook his gun for a Taser offered an apology on Friday to the family of the unarmed man he shot and killed last week.

“I rate this as No. 1 on my list of things in my life that I regret,” the reserve deputy, Robert Bates, told TODAY in his first public remarks since the deadly encounter April 2.

Bates has been charged with second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Eric Harris, who bolted from a car after he allegedly tried to sell a semiautomatic pistol to an undercover cop during a sting…

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