Fort Wayne’s careful financial planning has put it in a position for growth and success, according to its chief executive.FORT WAYNE – Charles Lawrence’s sister told him she had been beaten up, so the Fort Wayne man went out to seek revenge against her alleged attacker.
That’s when police believe he killed Quinton Sentrell Lewis, leaving him in a pool of blood in a hallway at a local apartment building, according to a probable cause affidavit released Friday about Lewis’ death in April from a shooting.
And the 35-year-old Lawrence, now in the Allen County Jail without bail, apparently gave away key details of the shooting to someone who eventually went to police.
The saga involving Lawrence and the 29-year-old Lewis began with a call from Lawrence’s sister April 24, according to court documents. She told her family she had been battered by Lewis, who was at her home, which brought Lawrence as well as some of her friends to her home.
Lewis left the home after the assault, Lawrence’s sister said. She filed a police report and decided to forgo a night of partying with her friends because of the battery, the affidavit said.
Her friends, three in all, offered varying stories about what happened after that.
One said they left the home while Lawrence stayed behind with his sister. Another said Lawrence was already gone by the time they left, and yet another said Lawrence left with them. Lawrence’s sister told police he stayed with her after her friends left, according to court documents.
She said she went to bed but was awakened in the middle of the night. In her living room, the front door was ajar and Lawrence was gone. Later, police found Lewis inside an apartment complex at 4320 Kekionga Drive with .45-caliber shell casings nearby, court records said.
A .45-caliber handgun was found on the property of Kekionga Middle School during the investigation, as well as blood that led from Lawrence’s apartment to Lewis’ body, according to the affidavit.
Tests showed the handgun was the one used in the shooting, according to the affidavit.
Lawrence was initially arrested on a probation violation the day of Lewis’ death and labeled a “person of interest” in the shooting. He was later released.
In May, an Allen County Jail inmate met with detectives and told them Lawrence admitted to shooting Lewis for beating up his sister. The inmate told them Lawrence described exactly how he shot Lewis, which matched details of the shooting detectives had not released to the public.
Thursday, Lawrence was arrested near a business in the 7000 block of West Jefferson Boulevard.
He’s being held on charges of murder and being a violent offender in possession of a handgun.
Lawrence had just recently finished serving a prison term for shooting an Allen County woman nine times in the chest and abdomen in 1996. The woman was critically wounded but survived.
Before that, Lawrence served a stint in prison for a 1991 armed robbery in Allen County.
