On April 28, 1997, Donald Robert Knepple, a 48-year-old male probation officer in Fort Wayne, Indiana, was murdered during a scheduled meeting at a counseling center on South Calhoun Street. The meeting had been arranged by a man under his supervision, 45-year-old Gary Wright, who had a history as a former juvenile corrections officer and a conviction for attempted child molestation.
Wright had scheduled the appointment with both Knepple and his 41-year-old clinical supervisor, Steven Tielker, with the premeditated intent to kill them.
At approximately 10:00 a.m., during the meeting, Wright produced a 9-millimeter handgun and fatally shot both Donald Knepple and Steven Tielker in the head. At the time of the attack, Knepple, like other probation officers in his department, was not armed. After the shootings, Wright fled to another room within the center and took his own life. Seven other employees and a client were present in the building when the incident occurred.
Donald Knepple had served with the Allen County Adult Probation Department for 12 years and was a U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War, as well as an Air National Guard reservist. He was survived by his wife, a 16-year-old son, and a 13-year-old daughter. The assailant, Gary Wright, had been convicted of three counts of child molestation in January 1996 and was serving a four-year probation sentence.
