In the pre-dawn hours of a December morning in Portage, Indiana, Alexius Tapia, a 35-year-old man, was fatally shot after confronting a group of individuals attempting to burglarize vehicles in his driveway. The incident unfolded in the 6000 block of Mill Run Avenue, where Tapia, upon discovering the theft in progress, went outside armed with a handgun to intervene.
Tragically, his two young sons witnessed the violent encounter that would take their father's life.
Tapia managed to wrestle one of the suspects, identified as 18-year-old Thomas Reichler, to the ground. As Tapia was escorting Reichler to his home to call the police, Reichler produced his own handgun and fired at least one shot, striking Tapia in the chest. Despite being wounded, Tapia returned fire, hitting Reichler in both arms before collapsing on his front porch. He was transported to a local hospital where he was later pronounced dead. The handgun used by the suspect was later found to have been reported stolen.
A swift police investigation led to the arrest of three suspects within hours of the shooting. In addition to Reichler, authorities took Korey Izynski and Nathaniel Sipe into custody in connection with the incident and a series of other vehicle burglaries in the neighborhood. In 2016, a jury found Thomas Reichler guilty of the murder of Alexius Tapia. He was subsequently sentenced to 62 years in prison. His conviction was later upheld by the Indiana Court of Appeals in 2017 after he argued that jurors should have been permitted to consider a lesser charge of reckless homicide. The appeals court ruled that Reichler's actions demonstrated a high probability of causing death and were more than just reckless.
