Man dies after he and 3 officers fired their guns

By Gregg Montgomery

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    INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — UPDATE: The man shot and killed by police on Thursday, Sept. 26, was identified as 42-year-old Darmon Graves Jr., the Marion County Coroner’s Office confirmed.

An armed man that police were pursuing died Tuesday afternoon after he, two Indianapolis police officers and an Indiana State Police trooper fired their guns, Sgt. John Perrine with state police said.

The man was identified late Tuesday night Darmon Graves Jr., 42, of Indianapolis.

No officers were injured, Perrine said.

Indianapolis medics were sent at 4:40 p.m. Tuesday to an “EMS incident” at East 40th Street and North Keystone Avenue, according to the computer-aided dispatch system. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department had been sent a few minutes earlier for an investigation at the same location.

In a second news conference from the scene around 6:30 p.m., Perrine said the man was a passenger in a vehicle stopped at East 40th Street and North Keystone Avenue. A female was driving the vehicle.

The Indiana Crime Guns Task Force had been following the man as a suspect. A news release issued late Tuesday night said Graves “was wanted on an outstanding felony warrant for a parole violation related to a serious violent felony.”

Online court records late Tuesday night did not list a warrant for Graves.

As police set up a perimeter near the vehicle, the female driver exited safely, but the man remained in the vehicle, Perrine said.

The news release issued late Tuesday night said, “The female driver was detained by officers but was released after she was interviewed by investigators.”

Perrine said when the man eventually left the vehicle, he and the three police officers fired their weapons. The man’s handgun ended up on the ground next to him.

At the same news conference, IMPD Assistant Chief Chris Bailey said investigators had no idea yet how many shots were fired.

Bailey also said IMPD had planned to catch up with the man at a home but switched their plans when he left with the woman in the vehicle. The assistant chief said the public will have to wait on the police investigation to be completed to learn more about “the why” for making the decision to pursue the man.

Police officers were wearing bodycams. In addition, Bailey and a state police news release said, a drone and dashcams were capturing video of the officers as they pursued the man.

Indiana State Police is the investigating agency, Bailey said. The officers involved from both agencies will be put onto administrative leave during the investigation.

Keystone Avenue was closed until about 11 p.m. Tuesday from 38th Street to East Fall Creek Parkway North Drive for the investigation.

Before Tuesday, IMPD data shows the agency has been involved in nine police shootings in 2023. Five people died in the nine shootings. Five of the nine police shootings have happened since Aug. 3.

In 2022, Indianapolis recorded 10 police shootings in which one person died.

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