On November 24, 2019, 24-year-old Dominick Michael Eugene Nick Drake was shot and killed inside a home on County Road 1000S in Flat Rock, Indiana. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Department says 72-year-old Ricky Drake called 911 that afternoon, reporting his adoptive son was out of control and had threatened him with a knife and a large whiskey bottle. Ricky Drake told deputies he fired one shot from a .45-caliber handgun, striking Dominick in the chest.

Responding deputies and emergency crews found Dominick without signs of life; the Shelby County Coroner pronounced him dead at the residence. Early reports described the relationship as father and son; the department later identified Ricky as Dominick’s adoptive father while some family members called him a step-grandfather, with the family later acknowledging Ricky likely legally adopted Dominick.

The sheriff’s office said the investigation remained open, and no publicly released outcome or prosecutive action has been reported.