Fort Wayne police arrest 21-year-old in connection to August murder

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WISH) — A 21-year-old Fort Wayne man was arrested Monday in connection to an August homicide, Fort Wayne police say.

Ahmad K. Pearson, 21, is preliminarily charged with the murder of Travis Jones, police say.

Fort Wayne police were called shortly before 10 p.m. Aug. 31 to a report of gunshots in the 4200 block of South Monroe Street on the city’s south side, the department said. Jones, 40, was found with gunshot wounds behind the wheel of a car that had hit a parked vehicle. Jones died at the crash scene, and his death later was ruled a homicide. No one else was in the car.

Investigators initially reported the shots may have been fired in the 4300 block of South Monroe Street before the car crashed in the next block.

Pearson was arrested Monday near the intersection of East State Boulevard and Hobson Road, which is a couple blocks west of North Coliseum Boulevard.

Pearson was in the Allen County jail, police said Monday night.

Online court records show Pearson is scheduled for a court hearing May 24 in a case in which he faces three charges of battery by means of a deadly weapon, and a charge of criminal recklessness where a person shoots a firearm into a building. Those charges were filed July 2, 2020. In that case, he was released from jail Sept. 30, 2021 on a $40,000 surety bond.