What if he was in fact told to stand down? Would the department admit to that, or present him with an offer of an out with full pension? Something seems a bit odd.
And, what if he was and would have broken his order and lived to tell?
Not suggesting anything, but anything is a possibility.
What man would obey such an order knowing it would mark him as a heinous coward for life?
No, he was not told to stand down, in my estimation.
He may have had a terribly bad day of terribly bad judgement, but he will have to live with that for the rest of his life, which I predict will be short.
Once reality sets in of what he could have done and what he did, he will likely end his life.
