FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — The man who was charged with murder for a fatal shooting outside of Showgirl III has been officially booked into the Allen County Jail.
28-year-old Austin Rinker faces a murder charge following a fatal shooting outside a nightclub on August 8 just after 3:30 a.m. Rinker was briefly in an area hospital following the shooting due to an apparent injury to his face. He is accused of shooting and killing 27-year-old Jacob Klotz.
According to court documents, Rinker is accused of approaching a woman in the parking lot after her shift was over. He had been previously banned from the club due to allegedly stalking his on-again, off-again girlfriend. An argument ensued, during which he began throwing offensive names at the woman.
Man faces murder charge for shooting outside Fort Wayne nightclub
That’s when Klotz stepped in to defend the woman, and a fist fight broke out. Though the fight ended quickly, court documents say that Klotz followed Rinker to his car. Witnesses told police that they heard multiple gunshots ring out and saw Klotz falling to the ground. They also reported that after Klotz was already on the ground, Rinker got out of his car, stood over him, and shot him up to five more times, according to court documents.
Before the police made it to the scene, Rinker had left in his car and taken himself to the hospital for a gunshot wound. There, police questioned him about how he ended up in the hospital. Rinker said the situation “got messy” and asked to speak with his mother and a lawyer…