BLOOMINGTON − Bloomington’s mayor and police chief decried gun violence during a news conference held just 12 hours after bullets fired into a crowd of a few thousand Little 500 revelers left several people injured.
One woman suffered a gunshot wound to the torso in the April 26 melee and is hospitalized in stable condition, Bloomington Police Department Chief Mike Diekhoff told reporters Sunday afternoon.
Four people were injured by bullet fragments and four others sustained minor injuries from falling as they ran from the intersection of Kirkwood Avenue and Dunn Street when gunfire broke out at 12:25 a.m.
No weapons were recovered but police collected spent shell casings for analysis. The investigation continues and no arrests had been made by mid-afternoon Sunday.
Diekhoff said witnesses reported two men fired guns during the incident, which started with a physical altercation between two women outside Five Guys hamburger restaurant that soon involved others.
Neither woman was among the injured, he said. It was bystanders who got hurt.
“This was not random gunfire,” Diekhoff said. “It was a fight between people and shots were fired.”
Investigators are reviewing footage from street security cameras and cameras outside area businesses in an attempt to identify suspects. The roads were closed to traffic because of the crowds and no vehicles were seen, the police chief said.
All of the injured had non-Bloomington addresses and were not Indiana University students.
Diekhoff and other BPD officers were stationed half a block away when the shots rang out. He estimated the crowd gathered in the area at 2,000 to 3,000 people. A mix of music was spilling out from the bars along Kirkwood and people were milling about and having a good time.
“It wasn’t unruly, but there were a lot of people.” All was “going very peaceful,” he said, “until the shots broke out.”
IUPD officers, sheriff’s deputies and state police troopers arrived to help move the large crowd away from the crime scene and allow access to the injured and witnesses.
Diekhoff said he and police agency leaders around the state lobbied against laws passed in Indiana that allow residents to be armed in public places.
“Because we don’t believe everyone should be in a position to carry a gun”, he said.
Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson said neither guns nor violence will be tolerated at public events in Bloomington and that city officials will review safety policies for large gatherings in light of the Little 500 weekend shootings.
Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Officials decry gun violence after Little 500 revelers shot on Kirkwood
Reporting by Laura Lane, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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