Fort Wayne Attorney Shot By Home Intruder

It's a reminder that nobody's home is safe. Fort Wayne attorney David Kuker, 45, lives in a quiet, southwest side Fort Wayne neighborhood near an elementary school. Yesterday, an intruder surprised him in his attached garage, sprayed a substance in his face and then shot him before fleeing on foot. Kuker's home, according to the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, is directly across the street from the home of an Allen Co. Sheriff's Department officer, whose police cruiser was parked in his drive at the time of the attack. Kuker suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries. The shooter remains at large.

Police said David J. Kuker, 45, was attacked when he found the man in the attached garage of his home, at 9409 White Shell Drive, about 8:13 a.m.

The man attacked Kuker, police said, and sprayed an unknown substance at him before shooting him in the shoulder at least once with a handgun.

A neighbor heard Kuker shouting for help after he was shot and called 911 after she found him lying in his front yard, police said.

An off-duty Allen County Sheriff’s Department officer lives across the street, and his cruiser was parked in his driveway at the time of the shooting. He came across the street and reported that Kuker was suffering from at least one gunshot wound, police said.

Kuker was taken to a hospital in serious condition.

Kuker is a partner at Faegre Baker Daniels and practices corporate law, focusing on mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, franchising issues, licensing, joint ventures and other complex transactions, the law firm said in a written statement.

Officers from the sheriff’s and Fort Wayne Police departments searched Kuker’s home and determined there was no one else in the home and that nothing had been reported stolen.

Indiana State Police dogs tried to track the intruder but were unsuccessful.

There was no sign of forced entry into the home or garage, Fort Wayne police said.

Police do not have a description of the assailant and don’t know of a motive, including whether the shooting was part of an attempted home invasion or robbery.

“It would all be speculation at this point,” spokeswoman Raquel Foster said.

The suspect was not known to Kuker, police said.

Kuker's shooting is a reminder of why so many neighborhoods have established neighborhood volunteer crime watch programs like the one George Zimmerman was a volunteer in his Florida neighborhood when he had a physical altercation with 17-year-old Trayvon Martin during which Martin was shot and killed by Zimmerman.