Two people experiencing homelessness were attacked in Bloomington last weekend, one of whom was killed.
One of the incidents of violence towards Bloomington’s unhoused Friday was against Robert Ballard, 60, who goes by Bobby. He’s been in Bloomington for about two years and experienced homelessness for more than 10.
Despite physical and verbal altercations over the years, Ballard mostly feels safe in Bloomington. He likes to talk with college students on Kirkwood.
“I get along really –I mean, really well with college students,” he said. “We have a lot of fun together and I'm well known.”
He was on Kirkwood when he got into a confrontation with multiple young men last Friday.
“The young kids came behind me and said, ‘Swing on me, I'm going to pop you’ and pulled a gun out.”
He recognized a couple of them as part of a group that gives him a hard time: taking his cigarettes, shoes, and bicycle on separate occasions.
Read more: Sixteen-year-old arrested for Friday attack on unhoused man
Bobby said he threw his hands up but decided to walk away.
“Then I'm like, ‘I'm not going to fight you, man,’” he said. “And I turned my back to walk away, and then I got blindsided. Boom– knocked my teeth out.”
People on Kirkwood recorded the fight with phones, and the recordings circulated on Bloomington social media groups.
Multiple young men can be seen hitting Bobby in the footage, and they started to kick him when he fell. He lost three front teeth from the beating.
Read more: Police ask public for help after deadly Bloomington shooting
Bobby said he doesn’t take trouble from people. But his attackers on Friday, weren’t seeking out people their own age. Police have arrested three people for the assault, two in their twenties and one 16-year-old.
“You don't see them messing with some of the college students that’s their age or their shape where they can defend themselves,” he said. “They're targeting people they think is weak.”
Bobby was not the only person experiencing homelessness assaulted that night in Bloomington, or even the most serious incident. Another man, Shawn Allen Sullivan, was killed Friday after someone got out of their car and shot him near West Howe and South Morton Streets. Sullivan was homeless. No one’s been arrested for his murder.
Bloomington Police said they do not suspect a connection between the killing and the assault on Bobby.
Beacon Inc director, Forrest Gilmore said violence against people experiencing homelessness isn’t new. But two incidents against the unhoused in one evening– especially a murder– is notable for Bloomington.
“These are particularly unique because both were community actions that occurred with strangers,” Gilmore said. And murders of unhoused people aren’t common in the Midwest.
Gilmore is seeing more aggressive community rhetoric toward homelessness– both online and in-person.
“I deeply connect the harsh and cruel and violent rhetoric with the actual violence,” he said. “It may not be perpetrated by the same people, but the act of dehumanizing in one place leads to the capacity in another place for people to do violence against folks.”
At first, Bobby didn’t want to talk with police, because “I'm not the only one going through things, and I'm not always the victim.”
But he decided reporting the incident was the right call.
“It don't make you a snitch man, by saying something, being a good person in the community,” he said. “…that's being an adult.”
