A 17-year-old who was involved in a police-action shooting in December will be tried as an adult, a judge has decided.
On Wednesday, prosecutors charged Carter Kappel, 17, 719 Harvest Meadow Way, New Whiteland, with pointing a firearm and resisting law enforcement with a deadly weapon, both level 6 felonies.
New Whiteland police officers shot Kappel on Dec. 14 outside his home in the Country Gate subdivision after he pointed a gun at them. Kappel was rushed to an Indianapolis hospital where he underwent surgery and survived, eventually being transported to Johnson County’s juvenile detention center.
Now Kappel, who will turn 18 years old in May, will face adult consequences for his actions, including up to five years in prison if convicted.
Kappel was booked in the Johnson County jail on March 26 after he was waived to adult court. He is being held without bond.
A child who is waived to adult court has a history of juvenile delinquency that is beyond the type of rehabilitation programming available in the juvenile system, said Joe Villenueva, chief deputy prosecutor.
"Kappel’s case will be treated the same any other adult offender," Villenueva said.
On the afternoon of Dec. 14, a relative called 911 to report that Kappel, who had previously run away from home, had returned to his house, and he had a gun, according to court documents.
In a written statement, that relative said when police arrived at the house, the relative saw Kappel exit his bedroom, pull the gun out and run outside, heading west on the sidewalk.
One officer yelled for Kappel to stop and put the gun down. Kappel turned around and pointed the gun at that officer. The relative heard several shots, but did not see who fired them. Kappel tossed the gun and fell to the ground, the relative said.
In that officer’s written statement, he said as soon as he arrived at the house, before he even exited his patrol car, he saw Kappel run from the house. He said Kappel turned toward him and pointed the gun directly at him, court documents said.
The officer said he fired at Kappel until his magazine was empty, but Kappel was still standing, so the officer grabbed a rifle from his trunk.
Another officer gave a written statement that he was on the east side of the house when he heard gunshots. As he got to the front of the house, he saw Kappel standing on the sidewalk pointing a gun at the other officer.
Kappel then shifted his aim toward the officer standing near the house, according to the statement. The second officer fired his gun multiple times before taking cover behind a parked car in the garage and shooting at Kappel again, striking Kappel in his arm, the officer said.
Kappel fell to his knees, court documents said. He initially turned the gun toward himself before pointing at officers again, finally dropping the weapon. Someone stood on Kappel’s gun while neighbors rushed to render aid and apply a tourniquet until medics arrived, court documents said.
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office investigated the shooting. The sheriff’s office completed its investigation on Dec. 18. On Dec. 21, the prosecutor’s office determined the shooting was justified and New Whiteland police were cleared of any wrongdoing, said Damian Katt, investigations division commander for the sheriff’s office.
Earlier that same day, Kappel was the driver of a vehicle that police tried to stop at 12:45 a.m. in Whiteland due to a broken tail light and a non-working license plate light. Police would later find methamphetamine, marijuana, a smoking device that contained meth residue and ammunition in the vehicle.
Jordan Fulkerson, 19, 197 Mystic Spring Drive, Greenwood, was in the car with Kappel.
Both Kappel and Fulkerson had warrants out for their arrests when they led police on a brief car chase through town, reaching speeds of more than 60 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood southwest of U.S. 31 and Tracy Road. Once the car turned into a neighborhood, on Deville Place, police watched as Fulkerson jumped out of the car and took off running, but they did not notice Kappel had also escaped on foot, they said. Officers realized the car was unoccupied once it ran over a street sign and into a yard, according to court documents.
Officers, still in their patrol cars, saw a flash of light from a gun being fired, court documents said. They did not hear the shot due to their police sirens blaring, they said.
Fulkerson “ran around the front of the vehicle and pulled out a semi-automatic pistol and pointed it straight at me. I attempted to find cover and while doing so saw the flash of the muzzle as the weapon went off,” one officer wrote in a statement.
As the officer started to get out of his vehicle, Fulkerson turned around and held the pistol up but did not fire it, he said. He recognized Fulkerson from several encounters at Whiteland Community High School, where the officer works as a part-time school resource officer, court documents said.
Fulkerson took off running, jumped a fence and disappeared, police said.
Police set up a perimeter, but even with K9s, drones and a helicopter, were unable to find the two, court documents said.
Fulkerson was arrested that afternoon when police caught him running in a field behind the house where Kappel was shot. An officer later identified Fulkerson in a lineup as the person who shot at him.
Police said they suspect Fulkerson was in the house at that time, but fled while they worked to get a search warrant. He was captured in the Mayes Trailer Service parking lot a few hundred feet away.
Fulkerson was charged earlier this year with criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, resisting law enforcement, pointing a firearm — all level 6 felonies — and carrying a handgun without a license, a misdemeanor, according to court documents.
His trial is set for May 21. Kappel does not have a court date yet.
