Tests showed Shane Griffin's blood-alcohol level was at least four times the legal limit of .08 for driving a car. He also tested positive for cocaine, officials said.

"This makes sense to me as to why he was in such a rage, why he was acting like a mad bull," said Rick Jones, the sheriff's chief deputy.

Griffin, 35, died Monday after police shot him in the head, causing a fractured skull, the coroner's office said. The coroner's office did not say whether Griffin had any other gunshot wounds, but police have said officers fired three shots at him.

The two police officers who fired their weapons remain on a paid leave while the shooting is being investigated, but officials say initial indications are the shooting was justified.

The coroner's office ruled Griffin's death a homicide, which means a person's death was caused by another person. But police claim the shooting is "suicide by cop" because, they say, Griffin repeatedly threatened to shoot officers unless they shot him first.

Griffin fired at least two dozen shots from a pair of guns and aimed an assault rifle at an Oxford officer before police opened fire on him in the Miami Mobile Home Court on College Corner Pike, authorities said.

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com