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Man shot by police ID’d, timeline released

Police on Aug. 2, 2019, were investigating a police-involved shooting near 42nd Street and Richelieu Road. (WISH Photo/Andy Garrison)

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Authorities have identified the man fatally shot Friday night by officers on the city’s northeast side.

Police on Saturday said Deshon Downing, 45, of Indianapolis, was a passenger in a van that was pulled over for a traffic stop around 8:15 p.m. Friday by East District Flex Team officers who were in the area of 42nd Street and Brentwood Drive conducting surveillance on criminal activity.

During the course of the traffic stop, the witnessing officers said the passenger, Downing, produced a gun and officers shot him, killing him.

Police on Saturday identified the officers involved as two white males and one Hispanic male.

The driver of the van, who was not harmed, was taken into custody and was cooperating with police, IMPD said.

Investigators found two guns at the crime scene, police said, and the van involved had not been fully processed by a forensic lab on Saturday, according to IMPD.

Investigators with the Critical Incident Response Team are leading the criminal investigation. The department’s Internal Affairs Unit is conducting a parallel but separate investigation to ensure compliance with departmental policy, IMPD said Saturday.

An executive review of the shooting will happen after the officers involved provide a “compelled departmental statement,” which IMPD said is “an added part of the administrative process to ensure questions are being asked and addressed, immediate policy or training concerns identified and addressed, and to determine the officers’ immediate work status before the completion of both the investigative and administrative investigations.”

The three officers have been placed on administrative leave and will have access to IMPD’s wellness program for coping assistance, IMPD said.

All known witnesses will be interviewed. Anyone who witnessed the incident and has not talked to investigators is asked to call the IMPD Homicide Office at 317-327-3475.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers of central Indiana at 317-262-TIPS.

On Saturday, IMPD provided a timeline of the incident, which is customary in police-involved shootings:

TIMELINE:

8:15 p.m.-Officers conduct a traffic stop

8:22-Officers advise they one suspect down and incident command is established

8:24-Control holds all but emergency radio traffic

8:25-Officers on scene advise no officers are injured one suspect down and is lying on top of a gun

8:25-Notification of OIS sent to IMPD Command Staff

8:25-CIRT Team notified via staff page

8:26-Medics staging area established

8:28-Scene safe for medics

8:29-Arriving officers advised there is sufficient help on the scene

8:31-On call prosecutor notified

8:32-Incident command transferred to east district supervisor

8:34-Suspect confirmed deceased by medics

8:36-POST Team requested

8:37-IMPD Chaplain requested

8:45-On-duty ERG requested for crowd control

8:49-Communications van responding to the scene

8:56-Homeland Security responding to the scene with the drone

9:21-Incident Command transferred to east district commander

10:45-Radio channels split

11:55-On-duty ERG units mark in service

12:55 a.m.-Radio channels brought back together

12:55-Incident Command transferred to east district late shift supervisor

3:02- Incident Command terminated-scene is released

Police initially reported the man’s name as Dashon Denning. It has been corrected.

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