Shooting victim dead, suspect arrested

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - (WANE) - The victim of Tuesday afternoon's shooting at Indiana Avenue and Rudisill Boulevard has died and police have made an arrest in the case, Fort Wayne police told NewsChannel 15 Tuesday night.

Police said Gerelle Borum, 22, of Fort Wayne was gunned down by Josiah Thomas, 22, of Fort Wayne at about 1:11 p.m. Thomas is under arrest and preliminarily charged with murder.

Fort Wayne police responded to the area of Indiana Avenue and Rudisill Boulevard after witnesses reported multiple gunshots. Police said anywhere between seven and 10 shots were fired.

Borum was found in the intersection of Indiana and Rudisill. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition initially, but later died.

Police said Borum was walking on the sidewalk when Thomas, traveling west on Rudisill in a white and red truck, stopped and fired at the victim. Witnesses reported seeing the victim fall to the ground as the vehicle turned north onto Indiana Avenue. Police said the victim suffered from multiple gunshot wounds.

Not long after the shooting, police pulled the suspect vehicle over east of the crime scene near Lafayette Street and Rudisill. Thomas was then taken into custody.

Jim Sack lives right across the street from the crime scene.  He said he heard several shots fired and saw the rest unfold through his front window.

"On the intersection, there was somebody on the ground, on the sidewalk, and there were people rushing toward him already, within seconds of the altercation," Sack said.  "There was a UPS driver running over to the man, there was a woman standing there waving her hands, and there was another fellow on the corner who already had his cell phone out and was calling [police].  So it was a very rapid response from all the neighbors helping the guy."

Sack said he saw the white and red vehicle fleeing the scene with a smaller SUV following it.  He thinks the smaller SUV was a witness who was trying to give police a good description of the suspect vehicle.

Sack said he has lived in his house for 12 years and has never seen anything like Tuesday's crime on West Rudisill Boulevard. 

"It's normally very quiet over here," Sack said.  "[But] this doesn't make me worry one whit about the safety of this neighborhood.  We never have things like this happen over here."