Chief: Police investigating deaths of 3 men as criminal case

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – The deaths of three men whose bodies were found inside a near-downtown home late afternoon Wednesday were a result of a criminal act, Fort Wayne Police Chief Garry Hamilton confirmed Thursday.

Hamilton confirmed his detectives are engaged in a criminal investigation. The chief spoke briefly early Thursday, less than 18 hours after his officers were called just after 5:30 p.m. to a home for an unknown reason and found the bodies of three men inside a ground-floor room of the white, two-story home.

It’s not clear yet how they died and their identities have not been released at this time. The Allen County Coroner’s Office said autopsies on the men would not be completed until late afternoon Thursday.

Hamilton did not discuss details of the criminal investigation on Thursday. He pushed back a scheduled interview until at least after the autopsies were completed.

Hamilton said, however, the men were not known to be associated with any gang activity. The chief said it was too early to say if their deaths were gang-related, though.

The scene at the home Thursday morning was well scaled back from Wednesday night, when dozens of officers investigated inside a crime scene tape wrapped around most of the block, and at least three Fort Wayne Police Department crime scene vans could be seen.

Hamilton said Thursday he assigned two squad cars to remain at the scene until at least after the autopsies on the men were completed because if police pulled down the crime scene tape, detectives would have to request another search warrant to return to the home if they needed to.