FORT WAYNE, Ind (WOWO) – Fort Wayne Police Department Public Information Officer, Raquel Foster, has confirmed that police believe the hostage situation on Holton Avenue near Colerick is related to a shooting this morning on E. Pettit Avenue near Reed Street.

Right now police believe the suspect from this morning’s shooting took a three-year-old hostage and has hidden in a home on Holton Avenue.

Streets are blocked in that area and police and SWAT are on the scene.

Shooting at Reed & Pettit:

On Wednesday at 7:53 a.m. officers of the Fort Wayne Police Department were dispatched to the intersection of E. Pettit Avenue at Reed Street in response to a report of a shooting.  The victim, an adult female, was pronounced deceased at the scene by first responders.

Preliminary reports indicate that the victim was a passenger on a Citilink bus and that the perpetrator was on this bus also.  It is not clear at this time what precipitated the shooting incident, but witnesses have reported that the perpetrator pulled the victim off of the bus before fatally shooting her, and then he fled from the scene on foot. It is not clear at this time what the relationship was between the victim and the perpetrator though it is believed that the perpetrator was known to the victim.  A canine unit attempted a track and the track terminated in the area of the 4700 block of Winter Street.

There were several witnesses, which included passengers aboard the Citilink bus, and persons who were in the neighborhood/area.  Detectives are presently interviewing these witnesses, and Crime Scene Technicians continue to process the scene. 

This is an ongoing investigation with the City of Fort Wayne Police Department, the Allen County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, and the Allen County Coroner’s Office.  Anyone with information is asked to contact the Fort Wayne Police Department Detective Bureau at (260) 427-1201 or Crime Stoppers at (260) 436-STOP [7867].