For the police officer, the man’s body language was the giveaway. His combative stance and his abrupt hand movement hinted at the possibility of danger.FORT WAYNE –
- Update: Victim is identified
Neighbors told investigators they heard one shot and then discovered the man in a parking lot of Coventry Court Townhomes, said officer John Chambers, a police spokesman.
At 12:38 a.m., police and medics were called to the lot in the 500 block of Birchtree Lane, near West Paulding Road and Fairfield Avenue. They found the man lying on the ground unresponsive, suffering from a gunshot wound. The man, whose identity was not released, died at the scene, Chambers said.
A dark-colored car was seen leaving the lot right after the shooting, but police don’t know whether the car was related to the crime. Police have no suspects or motive in the case, Chambers said.
Several neighbors told The Journal Gazette that the apartment complex is typically quiet and peaceful and that Saturday’s shooting was out of the ordinary. They said the victim had recently moved into the complex and was shot a short distance from the front door of his townhouse-style apartment.
One resident, who asked not to be named, said that after hearing what sounded like a firework, she looked outside and saw the man lying in the lot next to a car with an open door. He appeared to have been shot in the head, she said.
For her, the shooting was too close to home.
“This is stuff that you see in movies,” she said. “And it was right there.”
Chambers could not confirm where the victim was shot or whether he lived nearby.
