DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — Footage has been released from a deadly interaction between Decatur Police and a man they stopped for armed robbery.
The shooting happened on Monday, March 18 around 4 p.m. Two Decatur Police officers stopped Rocky L. Dupin, 38, near 600 W. Grand since he matched the description of an armed robbery suspect from a robbery that occurred earlier that day.
Video and photos from the incident have been provided by DPD and can be found here.
Footage has been released from a deadly interaction between Decatur Police and a man they stopped for armed robbery. The shooting happened on Monday, March 18 around 4 p.m. Two Decatur Police officers stopped Rocky L. Dupin, 38, near 600 W. Grand since he matched the description of an armed robbery suspect from a robbery that occurred earlier that day.
In a news conference on Tuesday, Decatur Police Chief Shane Brandel shared video from the body-worm camera footage.
Brandel began the conference by identifying the officers involved, Tanner Brummitt and Dawson Roberts. Both are 2-year veterans of the department. He did confirm that officer Roberts was a party in the officer-involved shooting from April 2023 where Steven L. Hirstein was shot during a domestic violence call.
Video was shown from an earlier robbery that Dupin was allegedly involved in that showed the distinctive clothing he was wearing.
The chief then showed incident footage from multiple cameras. In the videos, officers Brummitt and Roberts can be seen pulling over Dupin. They call for him to get on the ground.
In the video, it initially appears as if he complies and gets down to the sidewalk. But then Dupin can be seen standing up and reaching for something in his coat. He draws an object shaped like a gun. It is at this time that officers open fire.
Following the shooting, Decatur Police learned the gun Dupin had was fake.
Chief Brandel said, "It's completely irrelevant in terms of force that the gun wasn't real. I can't stress that enough because I know the conversation that's going to come. It only matters what they reasonably perceived. I showed you what the gun looked like. It was meant to look exactly like a real gun and we have to judge those officer's actions without the benefit of hindsight."
Brandel also said that because officers were aware Dupin was the suspect in an armed robbery, they approached aggressively.
"Sometimes the the situation dictates the tactics. In this case, I don't have a problem with tactics and how they approach that," Chief Brandel said. "We're dealing with somebody that we believe to be armed with a gun. The last thing you want to do is give them the advantage."
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The day after the shooting, the Decatur Police Department confirmed that the firearm Dupin pulled from his pocket was a "replica style gun" that "appears extremely realistic." During the conference, Brandel provided an image of the replica gun that Dupin had.
The CO2-powered revolver that Rocky L. Dupin pulled from his coat when he was stopped by officers from the Decatur Police department.
During the question and answer portion, Brandel said that in his conversations with Dupin's family, they confirmed a history of mental-health issues in Dupin's life. The department has had multiple interactions with him going back to 2018.
In a closing statement, the chief said that the "amount of violence law enforcement officers face in today's world is absolutely staggering," and that he's "proud and grateful" for the work officers do in keeping the community safe.
This remains an ongoing investigation being conducted by ISP and is under review by the Macon County State’s Attorney’s Office.
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