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Murder charge filed in fatal shooting

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) A murder charge has been filed against a Fort Wayne man who police said opened fire on a 28-year-old inside a car in Fort Wayne last month.

Christopher Figgs, 28, was charged with murder on Wednesday for carrying a handgun with a license and using a firearm in the commission of a felony. The charges all relate to the shooting death of 28-year-old Edword Kiel inside a car in the 3400 block of McKinnie Avenue on July 6.

It was around 1:30 a.m. that morning when Fort Wayne Police were called to the block about a vehicle crash.

Once officers arrived they found Kiel unconscious in the driver’s seat of a car that had crashed into a tree, according to a probable cause affidavit. The car itself had bullet holes in its side, and Kiel had been shot “numerous times,” the affidavit said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Hours after the shooting, a woman told police she was with Kiel inside that car, the affidavit said. She told investigators that Kiel had called her to talk, and they met inside his car outside her mother’s home, the affidavit said.

At some point, then, the woman said while they were talking, Kiel said to her, “There comes your ex and he has a gun,” according to the affidavit. The woman said she looked up and saw Figgs.

Kiel then tried to speed away but Figgs ran around to the driver’s side of the car and opened fire as the car passed by, the woman said, according to the affidavit. She said Kiel passed out and the car crashed.

The woman climbed out of the car and ran to her mother’s home to call 911, the affidavit said. She told police she thought Figgs was going to “finish them both off” but she told police she never saw him after the shooting.

The woman then told police that Figgs likely used a gun that he took from her, one legally purchased from a Paulding Road shop.

According to the affidavit, the woman said she and Figgs have two children together. She told police that since they broke up in 2015, he had threatened to kill anyone she was with.

Police publicized Figgs as a person of interest in the killing on July 6 at a special press conference where they released his mug shot.