FORT WAYNE – City firefighters found a victim inside a burning apartment before dawn Thursday on the south side.A Fort Wayne man recently released from prison after serving time for shooting a woman nine times was arrested Thursday night, accused this time of shooting a man to death in April.
Charles V. Lawrence, of the 3600 block of Monroe Street, is charged with murder and being a violent felon in possession of a firearm. He was being held without bail at the Allen County Lockup.
Police and lockup officials list his age as 35. The Department of Correction listed his age as 34.
Police said Lawrence is responsible for the shooting death of Quinton Sentrell Lewis, 29, in April.
Lewis’ death was ruled the 12th homicide in Allen County this year. There have been six homicides since his death.
Lewis was found lying in a hallway inside an apartment building at 4320 Kekionga Drive, near Engle and Bluffton roads, in the early-morning hours of April 24. He was pronounced dead after police and paramedics arrived.
Police first arrested Lawrence the day of Lewis’ slaying on a probation violation, calling him a “person of interest” at the time but not naming him a suspect. He was later released.
Police arrested Lawrence again about 6:30 p.m. Thursday at a business in the 7000 block of West Jefferson Boulevard, according to officer Scott Tegtmeyer, police spokesman.
Police have not released a motive in Lewis’ slaying.
Lawrence was scheduled to be released from prison in February, according to Department of Correction records.
He had been found guilty in Allen County of attempted murder in 1996. He shot Lemarie K. Bobb, 38, nine times in the chest and abdomen the year before, critically wounding the woman, who survived.
Before that, Lawrence had been sentenced to six years in prison in 1991 for armed robbery in Allen County, records said.
