ATTLEBORO -- An Attleboro District Court judge dismissed assault charges Thursday against a man shot by police during a tense confrontation in February 2004, finding the man incompetent to stand trial.

`` Thank God,'' Francisco Portillo, 72, a Guatemalan native, said through an interpreter after Judge Daniel O'Shea announced the decision.

A state psychologist told the court last month that Portillo, who denied any wrongdoing and suffered from depression, was incompetent to stand trial.

Portillo, who was armed with a knife, was shot once in the stomach in the hallway of an apartment building at Pleasant and Holman streets on Feb. 27, 2004, after he allegedly threatened a police officer.