Coroner: Death of man shot by police ruled suicide
Plus, more redistricting fallout reads.
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CORONER: DEATH OF MAN SHOT BY POLICE RULED SUICIDE
Rodolfo Requenes Jr., a 50-year-old Lafayette man shot and killed by police early Friday, died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to an autopsy, Tippecanoe County Coroner Carrie Costello reported Monday.
Costello said the preliminary manner of death was suicide.
Costello said that because the investigation by her office, Lafayette police and Indiana State Police was still going on, she could not share more information about the preliminary conclusion.
Sgt. Matt Santerre, with the Lafayette Police Department, said the officers involved in the shooting death remained on administrative leave as of Monday pending the conclusion of the investigation, per department policy. The officers involved had not been identified as of Monday evening.
According to a Lafayette Police Department account, the shooting happened in the 200 block of Porsche Lane, in the Waterford Court Apartment complex off Frontage Road, just east of I-65.
Police say Requenes had been pulled over around 12:25 a.m. Friday on Sagamore Parkway on suspicion of impaired driving. Police say Requenes “made statements indicating a risk of harm to himself” before fleeing the scene in his vehicle. Police later found the car at the apartment complex at 1:16 a.m. Friday.
Police say LPD officers and Indiana State Police troopers confronted Requenes there, where they say he said he was armed. Police say he was shot after he reached for his waistband behind his back “as if he was preparing to brandish a weapon.” Requenes died on the scene, police reported. No police officers were injured.
OTHER READS/ON THE REDISTRICTING FRONT …
After a series of threats and swatting incidents targeting state lawmakers – including one aimed at state Sen. Spencer Deery at his West Lafayette home last Thursday – amid the debate over redistricting, leaders of Indiana’s Republican and Democratic parties called out the attempts at intimidation in a joint statement Monday. Indiana Democratic Party Chair Karen Tallian and Indiana Republican Party Chair Lana Keesling wrote: “Threats of political violence and intimidation on elected officials have no place in Indiana. As chairs of the Indiana Republican and Democratic Parties, we condemn the recent attempted swatting attacks against them. Our elected officials are dedicated public servants, and we are thankful for their safety and the work of local law enforcement to keep everyone safe.”
Indiana Capital Chronicle editor Niki Kelly stated one obvious point in an op-ed over the weekend, writing that if Republican ready to see redistricting and chiding their fellow senators for not buying in: “Just like Jerry Maguire said way back in 1996, there’s an obvious conclusion brewing in Indiana’s redistricting fight: let’s stop trying to pin lawmakers down to vote for a fictitious map. Let’s put one on the table for everyone to see and debate. This discussion has been going on for three months. At least 21 Republicans in the Indiana House and Senate have committed to voting yes on a map they either haven’t seen or is locked behind closed political doors. Others have come out against the very idea of redistricting mid-cycle, which would be unprecedented in Indiana. But the majority are in the middle — taking the absolutely reasonable approach that they aren’t going to promise to vote for or against something they haven’t seen.” Whether that moves the senators saying they’re no for it – seeing a map, for example doesn’t seem to get at the fundamental issues Deery, for example, have with redrawing the maps mid-decade – here’s the rest of Kelly’s piece: “The obvious next step in the redistricting battle is to produce a map.”
Indianapolis Star reporter Kayla Dwyer went to Martinsville, a decidedly pro-Trump part of the state to see how well the president’s threats of a primary for senators who don’t get in line square up with the feelings about Sen. Rod Bray, the Senate leader from Martinsville who says he’s not going to call the Senate into session for an idea that doesn’t have the votes. Here’s her account: “Sen. Bray is quietly taking on President Trump. Who will his constituents choose?”
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Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.
Thank you for this story. It's so sad, but "suicide by cop" is a too real and horrible thing. I recognized that when first reading your story. And it's so hard on everybody. As suicide is....
Thank you for reporting on ongoing issue of Gerrymandering. Greatly appreciate including first hand reporting and analysis from colleagues Nikki Kelly of Indiana Capital Chroniclel and Kayla Dwyer of IndyStar. Indiana is already Gerrymandered by GOP x2 censuses. See Julia Vaughn of Common Cause. May not agree with Senate leader Rodric Bray on much do appreciate him standing up against even more unprecedented mid-decade Gerrymandering.