Police fatally shoot wanted fugitive

Gunfire exchanged while warrant served during traffic stop

INDIANAPOLIS — Police in Indianapolis exchanged gunfire with a man Thursday evening, fatally wounding him, as they were trying to arrest him on a warrant during a traffic stop, police said.

The man died at a hospital after he was shot when three officers opened fire during the exchange of gunfire, police said. The Marion County Coroner’s Office identified him as Raphael Nafees Dekemper, 48.

Officers were looking for Dekemper, who was wanted on a warrant for charges of possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, criminal recklessness, pointing a firearm and invasion of privacy for allegedly firing shots at his ex-wife’s boyfriend at a home, The Indianapolis Star reported.

Officers found Dekemper getting into the passenger side of a vehicle on the city’s east side about 5:30 p.m. They were using verbal commands and their police vehicles as cover when he exited the car with a handgun, said acting Chief Christopher Bailey of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

“Detectives believe that the suspect fired at officers first; the officers returned fire,” he said.

No officers were injured, but a police car was struck by multiple bullets. The car’s driver was taken into custody without injury and police said a firearm believed to be Dekemper’s was found at the scene.

Dekemper was not legally allowed to possess firearms due to a prior criminal conviction, Bailey said. Indiana Department of Corrections records show he served prison time for a murder conviction in 1997 and was released in 2017.

The three officers who fired their weapons were placed on administrative leave, a standard step after shootings involving officers. Police said their body-worn cameras were recording at the time.