Ft. Wayne: Man barricaded with 3 year old hostage

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Police have confirmed that a suspect in a Wednesday morning shooting that left a woman dead is barricaded in a home on Holton St. with a three-year-old hostage.

It is not known if there is a relationship between the toddler and the suspect.

There is a large police presence in 3000-block of Holton St. WTHI's sister station, NewsChannel 15 has crew on the scene and said there were many police on scene as was the Emergency Response Team and SWAT team.

A transmission from a Fort Wayne Police Department armored vehicle was asking the man barricaded in one of the homes to call 911. FWPD said it would not be leaving the scene until the situation is resolved.

As of around 2 p.m., the tank had stopped transmitting the message. FWPD Public Information Officer Raquel Foster could not confirm with NewsChannel 15 if the suspect had been in contact with officials.

Police have blocked off the entire 3000-block of Holton Street.

Schools in the area

Fort Wayne Community Schools put up the following message on the FWCS Facebook page :
There is a hostage situation in the 3000 block of Holton Ave. Police have blocked the city block bounded by Holton, Bowser, Colerick and Eckart streets. Elementary students living in this area will be kept at their schools to be picked up by parents. Schools will contact the affected parents. Students in schools near the hostage area will be allowed to leave with additional security measures in place. We are working closely with police to ensure our students are safe.

Wednesday morning shooting

A woman was shot to death after getting off a Citilink bus just before 8 a.m. Wednesday morning  near the intersection of East Pettit and Reed Street according to Fort Wayne police.

According to a press release issued by Public Information Officer Raquel Foster, it's not clear what precipitated the incident however police confirmed that two knew each other but did not release the nature of the relationship.  Witnesses reported that the shooter pulled the victim off the bus.

Citilink buses have cameras that record both audio and video. Police said Citilink was being cooperative.

The woman was shot about 25 feet away from the bus. She was pronounced dead at the scene. She was identified as Jacqueline Bouvier Hardym 49, of Fort Wayne.

The gunman took off on foot and was tracked by a canine unit to an area in the 4700 block of Winter Street where the search ended.

Police are interviewing several witnesses, including passengers who were on the bus and people who were in the neighborhood at the time of the shooting. Police also searched at least one house they believed to be connected to the morning shooting.

Ravenscroft Beauty College canceled classes for the day because of the shooting; a woman who answered the phone at the college said Hardy was a student there.

Fort Wayne Community Schools did take extra precautions as Scott and Abbett Elementary Schools were nearby. However, according to spokesperson Krista Stockman said some FWCS students on the way to school did see the shooting.

Less than 24 hours earlier, Gerelle R. Borum, 22, of Fort Wayne was killed when he was shot while walking along Rudisill Boulevard near Indiana Avenue shortly after 1 pm Tuesday.  Witnesses told police the gunfire came from a red and white truck.  A short time later, officers located the truck and made a traffic stop. 

Police detained Josiah C. Thomas, 22, of Fort Wayne for questioning and later in the day he was charged with murder.