The Fort Wayne Police Department has identified the officer involved in a fatal shooting on Sept. 6 in the 1500 block of Wells Street.
Officer Julian Mestre shot and killed 58-year-old John Edward McCloud.
Police responded to a report of a burglary at 1527 Wells St. just before 2:00 that morning. When police entered the home, they encountered McCloud.
According to a press release from the FWPD, Mestre has been with the department since June 2018.
He has been reprimanded three times for crashes involving his squad car. He was given an award for excellence in 2021.
Mestre served for three months on a temporary assignment with the detective decision. He has been assigned predominantly to the night shift in the city’s Northwest Division.
McCloud’s death was the third in a police-action shooting since June. The shooting remains under investigation.
There have been six police-action shootings, with four fatalities, since June. The most recent fatality occurred this week.
Samuel Sterling Caston, 59, was shot and killed by police on Monday after FWPD responded to a domestic violence call on the city's southeast side.
Officers located Caston’s vehicle while responding to the original call. Caston then intentionally crashed his vehicle into a police car, and fled. When he stopped, Caston opened fire on police. They returned fire and he was killed.
On July 30, FWPD responded to a report of a man who had escaped from DeKalb County Community Corrections' custody. Gawon Kaerey Benson, 31 was located on the campus of Purdue Fort Wayne and was reportedly armed. Body camera footage showed police ordering him to drop a gun seen in his hand before he was fatally shot.
In June, 22-year-old Linzell Parhm was fatally shot by Officer Mason Wills during a traffic stop. In body camera footage released by the department, Wills orders Parhm to keep his hands on the dashboard of the car, but Parhm appears to be struggling to comply. A Draco AK-47-style pistol was found on the floor of the car at his feet.
There were two non-fatal shootings involving FWPD since June.
