Man shot and killed by IMPD, ISP officers during task force investigation

This story has been updated. 

A man is dead after he was shot by law enforcement members of a crime guns task force in Indianapolis Tuesday.

The shooting occurred in the area of East 40th Street and Keystone Avenue at about 4:40 p.m, and is the third shooting involving Indianapolis police in the past week. 

The Marion County Coroner's Office identified the man as 42-year-old Darmon Graves Jr. 

Members of the Indiana Crime Guns Task Force, including two Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers and one Indiana State Police Trooper, were conducting an investigation. The task force is a collaboration between central Indiana and federal law enforcement agencies that addresses violent crime related to illegal possession of firearms.

They identified a man who was a “target” of their investigation, said ISP Sgt. John Perrine. The man was a passenger in a vehicle and wanted on a “violent serious felony warrant,” Perrine said.

Officers approached the man at the intersection, who exited the vehicle with a handgun in his hand and “engaged” with the three officers, according to Perrine. Preliminary information indicates that the man fired his weapon, Perrine said.

The man died at the scene. The driver of the vehicle was taken into custody.

The Indiana State Police will lead the investigation. No officers were injured.

The IMPD officers and the ISP trooper have been placed on standard administrative leave.

Tuesday’s incident marks the tenth shooting this year involving IMPD officers. More than half of those shootings have occurred since Aug. 1.

On Aug. 3, an IMPD officer shot and killed a man following a traffic stop.

On Aug. 27, an IMPD SWAT officer shot and killed a man reportedly experiencing a hallucinatory episode and wielding a machete.

On Sept. 1, officers shot a man during an alleged break-in.

On Sept. 19, an IMPD officer shot and killed a man following a domestic violence call.

On Sept. 22, two people were shot by IMPD SWAT officers downtown. A man later died.

Contact WFYI criminal justice reporter Katrina Pross at kpross@wfyi.org. Pross is a Corps Member of Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.