Michael ZennieThe Journal Gazette
Police believe a Fort Wayne man shot his girlfriend to death Friday in an Auburn group home – the result of a strained relationship turned violent.
But that was before he showed up at his estranged wife’s Waterloo house, exchanged gunfire with her boyfriend and crashed his Jeep through their front door, authorities said.
Ronnie R. Jones, 39, rang the doorbell at his estranged wife’s house at 3132 DeKalb County Road 427 in Waterloo about noon, police said. When no one answered, he pulled a handgun and fired several shots into the home, DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department Detective Lee Stoy said.
Six children were inside at the time, including his own. They escaped out the back door, police said.
The woman’s boyfriend, Jason Patrick, returned fire with a 20-gauge shotgun, striking Jones in the leg with about 20 pellets of birdshot. Wounded, Jones climbed into his Jeep sport utility vehicle and rammed the front door of the house. The vehicle crashed through the wall and came to a rest in the foyer, Stoy said.
When Waterloo police arrived, Jones handed an officer a 9 mm handgun magazine and said he had killed a woman three miles south in Auburn at 2125 Lorraine Drive, Stoy said.
Jones also said he drove to the house of his estranged wife, Sara Grimm, with the intention of killing her and Jason Patrick, police said.
Officers found Jones’ girlfriend, 32-year-old Melissa Patrick of Auburn, shot to death at the house, a group home where Patrick worked. Residents were in the home when Jones killed her, Indiana State Police Detective Mark Heffelfinger said.
Heffelfinger said the killing was the result of a strained relationship and happened shortly before Jones showed up in Waterloo.
Melissa Patrick was married to Jason Patrick, and the couple were going through a divorce, police said.
Jason Patrick and Sara Grimm had protective orders issued in DeKalb County against Jones. Jones had protective orders issued in DeKalb and Allen counties against Grimm.
Jones was taken to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne where he was treated and released.
He was then booked into the DeKalb County Jail on a murder charge.
Police are still investigating the case and expect to file additional charges.
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