Nathaniel Levi Gaines (1971 – July 4, 1996) was an African-American resident of Yonkers, New York who, in a case of illegal use of deadly force, was fatally shot by a member of the New York City Transit Police, a division of the New York City Police Department. Gaines was a veteran of service in the Persian Gulf War, and was known to have no criminal record, nor any history of encounters with police or law enforcement agencies.