Investigation continues into Elkhart's first homicide of the year

NOW: Investigation continues into Elkhart’s first homicide of the year
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ELKHART, Ind. -

As Elkhart remembers Memorial Day, community leaders are responding to the city’s first homicide of the year.

Sunday night, 20-year-old Jared Foltz was gunned down at a Menards parking lot.

The suspect was caught just minutes later.

Elkhart Police say that quick arrest was a community effort.

Sergeant Chris Snyder says he’s not so sure a suspect would be in custody tonight if it weren’t for the help of witnesses, both employees and customers.

“Great effort on everybody’s part our officers did a good job responding there did a good job talking with witnesses there witnesses did great job providing info a lot of time gets to different scenes seems nobody saw anything but in this case witnesses saw stuff spoke to police, able to give description of vehicle, the occupant of vehicle looked like,” said Snyder.

Elkhart Police are applauding their officers and the community for helping to bring 18-year-old Jarrod Spigutz into custody, just minutes after he fled from the scene.

Police say Spigutz was arrested for murdering 20-year-old Jared Foltz, who was shot and killed inside his vehicle just before 7:30 pm.

Monday, Elkhart Mayor Tim Neese says Sunday’s first homicide of the year in Elkhart was unfortunate, but he echoed Sergeant Snyder’s comments that capturing Spigutz, was a city-wide effort.

“Good news is there’s been a solid arrest so we are just going to carry on working with various groups around city, police involvement, neighborhood associations, will keep crime rate down,” said Mayor Neese.

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