Few new details in Monday shooting

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Not much new information been released about an early Monday morning shooting in Van Wert.

The Van Wert Police Department received a call of shots fired in a storage garage in the 1000 block of Pratt St. at 12:54 a.m. Monday. The owner was inside when the suspect broke into his facility, the second breaking and entering incident there in two days.

The owner of the building, who called police after the shooting, said the suspect got within four feet him and he told police he shot his gun in self-defense, hitting the man twice. According to Van Wert Police Chief Doug Weigle, the intruder was hit in the arm and the body, but it wasn’t made clear where in the body. The suspect then fled the scene.

“It’s believed he left on foot,” Weigle said.

20 minutes later, at 1:14 a.m., the police department received a call from a resident of a home in the 300 block of S. Cherry St. The resident of the home claimed someone had arrived there and had been shot, but didn’t know how he was shot.

The suspect was transported by ambulance and was eventually life flighted to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne for treatment of what was believed to be non-life threatening injuries. His name hasn’t been released yet, because he’s an uncharged suspect.

The incident remains under investigation.

“It will be turned over to the prosecutor once the investigation is complete,” Weigle said.