Thirty-two-year-old Joseph D. Bossard has been formally charged with gunning down three young Black men at a Fort Wayne gas station last week.
On Tuesday, Bossard was charged with two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, and other charges of aggravated battery and criminal recklessness concerning a shooting at a Shell gas station Wednesday evening.
Two of the victims, Anderson Retic, 19, and Joshua Cole Cooper, 19, were killed in the incident. The third victim, Jaylin Rice, 20, is still hospitalized.
According to the police activity log, Fort Wayne police were dispatched to the scene on reports of a problem unknown. As police were on their way to the area, a shooting was reported at the gas station.
When the officers arrived, they found a vehicle crashed into a snowbank along Hobson Road. Inside the vehicle were three male victims suffering from gunshot wounds, two were pronounced dead at the scene, and the third was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
A probable cause affidavit released on Thursday details that Bossard pulled into the gas station in a red Chevrolet Silverado pickup and bought some cigarettes. While inside the store, Bossard got into “some kind of verbal confrontation with three young male black subjects” in the store.
Once outside the store, surveillance showed Bossard circling in on the three young men he had been arguing with inside his truck. In the process, he almost hit one of the other young men as he drove off.
Shortly after, the pickup truck returned to the gas station and pulled up behind the victim’s vehicle, the affidavit said. Bossard then got out of his pickup and “briskly” walked over to the driver’s side and instantly fired a handgun.
The surveillance video then showed the car driving off as Bossard continued firing. Bossard then got back into his pickup truck and pursued southbound.
The affidavit stated that shell casings were found at both the gas pump and around the crashed vehicle.
After the shooting took place, Bossard’s photo was released by police, and he was tracked to his home on the 2200 block of Laverne Avenue.
The suspect surrendered peacefully after negotiators tried to contact him for almost two hours with no response before tactical officers shot a chemical agent into his home.
According to the affidavit, Bossard declined to speak to the police. Inside his home, they found one 9mm handgun and one .380 caliber handgun.
Prosecutors are seeking a sentence increase since Bossard allegedly committed the crimes with a firearm.
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