More Details Emerge About Cincinnati Man’s Crime Spree
July 22, 2020 at 12:44 a.m.
More Details Emerge About Cincinnati Man’s Crime Spree
By Amanda [email protected]
Raphael Antwaun Dell, 22, Cincinnati, Ohio, was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail at 2:44 p.m. June 15 for possession of marijuana after he ran his car into Carr Lake for an unknown reason.
The Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office responded and took Dell into custody as he was walking away from the vehicle, according to KCSO Public Information Officer Sgt. Chris Francis. Dell’s bond was set at $600, but he was released on his own recognizance at 2:46 p.m. Friday, according to jail records.
At 3:30 p.m. Friday, a Warsaw man reported the theft of his vehicle and a gun from the 700 block of North Lake Street, for a total value of $5,500, according to police reports.
According to the Mercer County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Department, Dell stole that vehicle and used it until his demise along an Ohio highway Friday evening.
After Dell stole the vehicle and gun from Warsaw, he continued to Fort Wayne. At 4:51 p.m. Friday, officers with the Allen County Sheriff’s Department responded to the 10400 block of Marion Center Road to a reported shooting, according to Allen County Sheriff’s Dept. Public Information Officer Steve Stone. Upon arrival, officers located a man who had been shot, who told police he and his wife discovered a suspect inside their residence and confronted him. The man said he went outside of the home to continue confronting Dell, when Dell retrieved a weapon from his vehicle and shot the man. Dell then fled, and the homeowner was taken to an area hospital in fair condition, according to Stone.
Less than 10 minutes later, a woman called Allen County 911 and said a man, fitting the description of Dell, just robbed her at gunpoint in the area of Hartzell and Tillman roads, near I-469, while she was jogging. Dell then fled with her cell phone, and the woman was uninjured.
Dell then continued his path of destruction by traveling to Van Wert County, Ohio, where he’s accused of committing another robbery. According to Mercer County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Doug Timmerman, Dell fled after the Van Wert County robbery and in doing so, drug a person with his vehicle who was trying to stop Dell from leaving.
Phone calls to Van Wert County Sheriff Thomas M. Riggenbach went unanswered seeking comment on details about the alleged incident.
This is when Mercer County Sheriff’s Department became aware of the situation and were told that Dell was possibly in the St. Mary’s area due to a cell phone ping. The pinged cell phone had been stolen during the Van Wert County robbery, and deputies began checking the east side of Mercer County, according to Timmerman.
At 7:06 p.m., Mercer County Sheriff’s Deputy Spencer Heinl found Dell on U.S. 33 at the intersection of Kuck Road. Dell was using a gas can to put gas into the car on the east side of the highway. As Heinl pulled behind the car and turned on his roof lights, Dell saw him and walked from the passenger side of the vehicle to the driver’s side.
According to Timmerman, Dell ignored Heinl’s commands to stop, then Dell entered the vehicle and within seconds Heinl heard a gunshot and retreated to the rear of the patrol vehicle and called for assistance.
As Heinl waited for assistance, he continued yelling commands at Dell, but there was no response. After eight minutes, backup units started to arrive. Once back up from Celina and St. Mary’s Police departments arrived, officers approached the vehicle behind a bullet-resistant shield.
Dell was located inside the vehicle, dead from a self-inflicted AK-47 gunshot to his head, according to Timmerman.
While this is still an active investigation, information so far indicates that the vehicle Dell used was stolen from Kosciusko County and that Dell apparently ran out of a gas at U.S. 33 and Kuck Road. According to witnesses, a pickup truck stopped and Dell tried to enter the truck, so the truck left the scene. A short time after the truck left, another vehicle stopped. Dell got into this vehicle, according to MCSD, and it went to a store, where video surveillance shows the woman visibly upset enter the store alone and purchase a one-gallon gas can. That vehicle then went to a Shell gas station in St. Mary’s and purchased fuel.
MCSD says they would like to speak with the occupants of the pickup truck and the woman in the vehicle that purchased the gas – not because those individuals are suspected of any wrongdoing, but to try to further understand what led up to Dell taking his life.
After Dell was pronounced dead at the scene by the Mercer County Coroner Dr. Tim Heinrichs, Dell was taken to the coroner’s office for an autopsy. The Cincinnati Division of Police assisted in notifying the next of kin to Dell, according to MCSD.
Why Dell was in Warsaw is unknown at this time. The investigation is ongoing.
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Raphael Antwaun Dell, 22, Cincinnati, Ohio, was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail at 2:44 p.m. June 15 for possession of marijuana after he ran his car into Carr Lake for an unknown reason.
The Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office responded and took Dell into custody as he was walking away from the vehicle, according to KCSO Public Information Officer Sgt. Chris Francis. Dell’s bond was set at $600, but he was released on his own recognizance at 2:46 p.m. Friday, according to jail records.
At 3:30 p.m. Friday, a Warsaw man reported the theft of his vehicle and a gun from the 700 block of North Lake Street, for a total value of $5,500, according to police reports.
According to the Mercer County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Department, Dell stole that vehicle and used it until his demise along an Ohio highway Friday evening.
After Dell stole the vehicle and gun from Warsaw, he continued to Fort Wayne. At 4:51 p.m. Friday, officers with the Allen County Sheriff’s Department responded to the 10400 block of Marion Center Road to a reported shooting, according to Allen County Sheriff’s Dept. Public Information Officer Steve Stone. Upon arrival, officers located a man who had been shot, who told police he and his wife discovered a suspect inside their residence and confronted him. The man said he went outside of the home to continue confronting Dell, when Dell retrieved a weapon from his vehicle and shot the man. Dell then fled, and the homeowner was taken to an area hospital in fair condition, according to Stone.
Less than 10 minutes later, a woman called Allen County 911 and said a man, fitting the description of Dell, just robbed her at gunpoint in the area of Hartzell and Tillman roads, near I-469, while she was jogging. Dell then fled with her cell phone, and the woman was uninjured.
Dell then continued his path of destruction by traveling to Van Wert County, Ohio, where he’s accused of committing another robbery. According to Mercer County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Doug Timmerman, Dell fled after the Van Wert County robbery and in doing so, drug a person with his vehicle who was trying to stop Dell from leaving.
Phone calls to Van Wert County Sheriff Thomas M. Riggenbach went unanswered seeking comment on details about the alleged incident.
This is when Mercer County Sheriff’s Department became aware of the situation and were told that Dell was possibly in the St. Mary’s area due to a cell phone ping. The pinged cell phone had been stolen during the Van Wert County robbery, and deputies began checking the east side of Mercer County, according to Timmerman.
At 7:06 p.m., Mercer County Sheriff’s Deputy Spencer Heinl found Dell on U.S. 33 at the intersection of Kuck Road. Dell was using a gas can to put gas into the car on the east side of the highway. As Heinl pulled behind the car and turned on his roof lights, Dell saw him and walked from the passenger side of the vehicle to the driver’s side.
According to Timmerman, Dell ignored Heinl’s commands to stop, then Dell entered the vehicle and within seconds Heinl heard a gunshot and retreated to the rear of the patrol vehicle and called for assistance.
As Heinl waited for assistance, he continued yelling commands at Dell, but there was no response. After eight minutes, backup units started to arrive. Once back up from Celina and St. Mary’s Police departments arrived, officers approached the vehicle behind a bullet-resistant shield.
Dell was located inside the vehicle, dead from a self-inflicted AK-47 gunshot to his head, according to Timmerman.
While this is still an active investigation, information so far indicates that the vehicle Dell used was stolen from Kosciusko County and that Dell apparently ran out of a gas at U.S. 33 and Kuck Road. According to witnesses, a pickup truck stopped and Dell tried to enter the truck, so the truck left the scene. A short time after the truck left, another vehicle stopped. Dell got into this vehicle, according to MCSD, and it went to a store, where video surveillance shows the woman visibly upset enter the store alone and purchase a one-gallon gas can. That vehicle then went to a Shell gas station in St. Mary’s and purchased fuel.
MCSD says they would like to speak with the occupants of the pickup truck and the woman in the vehicle that purchased the gas – not because those individuals are suspected of any wrongdoing, but to try to further understand what led up to Dell taking his life.
After Dell was pronounced dead at the scene by the Mercer County Coroner Dr. Tim Heinrichs, Dell was taken to the coroner’s office for an autopsy. The Cincinnati Division of Police assisted in notifying the next of kin to Dell, according to MCSD.
Why Dell was in Warsaw is unknown at this time. The investigation is ongoing.
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