Gun Violence in this Midwestern city isn’t abating. Its leaders halted programs that could help.

Just after midnight on July 5, on the heels of Independence Day fireworks, downtown Fort Wayne was crowded with lingering teenagers. Just around the corner from the city’s police headquarters, two groups of teens at Promenade Park ran into each other, started shouting, and soon, gunfire erupted.

All told, four teens between 15 and 18 years old were shot; Si’Montre Anthony Molargik, 16, died at the hospital. Two others were arrested a couple of days later on charges of murder and attempted murder.

While the shooting frightened many downtown residents and business owners, the violence was familiar to those from the boys’ southeast neighborhood, and others living in Fort Wayne’s most disenfranc

See Full Page