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A Fort Wayne man shot to death in the city’s latest homicide was the innocent victim of a robbery, according to police.
Officers were called about 10:30 p.m. Sunday to the 2800 block of Schele Avenue, on the city’s southeast side, to a reported shooting. On arrival, police found 32-year-old Ian Jacob Crace lying dead on the side of the street, near the McCormick Place Apartments.
Crace, a deliveryman for Pizza By Vito’s, had been shot as he arrived for a delivery, police said. He was dead when paramedics arrived. The Allen County Coroner’s Office has ruled Crace’s shooting death the 20th homicide in the city this year.
No arrests have been made, and police say they have no suspect description.
The motive for the killing is believed to have been robbery, although how much – if any – cash was taken from Crace, is unclear, according to Fort Wayne police Sgt. Carl Moore, who oversees the homicide division.
“We think he was actually robbed of the pizzas,” he said.
Neighbor, Miguel Riojas, said he was checking his front door, which faces Schele Avenue, to make sure it was locked when he heard voices outside.
Riojas said he saw two men together and one man alone. One of the two men fired a gun – shooting the man who was alone. The two left on foot, heading west on Schele Avenue, although Riojas suspects a vehicle may have been at the corner to pick them up.
Juan Cobarruvias, who lives on McCormick Avenue and within eyeshot of the shooting, said he saw a black pickup truck squeal its tires and drive off west on Schele Avenue – right after hearing what he believed were two gunshots. As he called 911, Cobarruvias said he heard a man screaming from the street.
“I know the cars,” said Cobarruvias, who has lived there for a year and said he had never seen the pickup truck. “I think somebody followed this guy.”
Crace was driving a light-colored GMC Jimmy van – a different vehicle from the one described by witnesses, Moore said. It is unclear whether Crace was shot in the van or outside of the vehicle, he added.
“It’s kind of a shocker. He was just out making a living,” Moore said.
A 1995 graduate of North Side High School, Crace was described by his family as a hard worker.
“All his co-workers cared a lot about him,” said his father, David Crace of Fort Wayne.
Crace was a singer, wrote his own songs and played guitar. After high school, he spent two years studying environmental science at Indiana University in Bloomington, said his older sister Leah Cody, 36, of Charlotte, N.C.
Before working at the pizza shop, Crace had driven an ice cream truck.
“He was a people person. He never met a stranger,” she said. “He was good at that type of work.”
Crace had spent two months in prison for an Allen County theft conviction. He was released in April after accumulating good-time credit, according to a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Correction. Crace’s family said he had been getting his life back on track.
“He was just happy to have something steady going on,” Cody said. “He was trying to get stabilized in life.”
Meanwhile his family is left with many questions.
“We’re really concerned about the perpetrators who did this crime,” said his uncle Daniel Crace, of Fort Wayne. “We hear about this … all the time. That these murders go unsolved – it seems like a lot of them never get apprehended.”
