City officials expressed sorrow and concern Sunday, after a violent altercation in downtown Bloomington injured nine people overnight.
Speaking to reporters at City Hall, Mayor Kerry Thomson condemned gun violence and said she felt for those who were hurt.
Read more: Police say 5 hurt by gunfire in downtown Bloomington
“It is, of course, an incredibly sad day,” Thomson said in the city council chamber, standing beside Bloomington and IU security officials. “We condemn gun violence unequivocally, in any form, and my thoughts are with those that were injured last night.”
Gunfire erupted on Kirkwood Avenue just after midnight Sunday, as thousands of people were congregating along the bar-lined avenue where parties and late-night events surrounding the Little 500 races are held. The annual event draws tens of thousands of people to Bloomington each year.
At the news conference, Bloomington police chief Mike Diekhoff clarified that five of the nine people injured were hurt by gunfire, either from direct shots or shrapnel. The other four, he said, got hurt in the chaotic aftermath of the shooting. Authorities initially reported that nine people were hurt by gunfire.
Diekhoff said that the five people who were injured by gunfire were all female, ranging in age from 17 to 21. All but one have been released from the hospital, and the one remaining is in stable condition, he said.
He said that investigators were reviewing footage from nearby businesses as well as cell phone video to piece together what happened ahead of the shooting. Diekhoff said that there were two suspected shooters, and that neither one appeared to have targeted the crowd at large.
“It is believed that a fight broke out between two females near the front of the Five Guys restaurant,” he said. “During the fight, multiple individuals can be seen drawing handguns, and it is believed that two separate individuals fired their weapons.”
Diekhoff said that officers rushed to the area and located multiple victims. He said that officers found shell casings at the scene.
“ This was not just random gunfire. It was a fight between two people that had broke out, and the shots were fired,” he said.
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Diekhoff declined to provide descriptions of the people suspected of opening fire.
Asked by reporters why police didn’t try to disperse the crowd, as they had done the day before, he said that most present were not being unruly.
“ There wasn't really any reason for us to move the crowd because everybody was pretty jovial and happy until the gunshots happened,” Diekhoff said.
However, he also acknowledged that the Saturday night crowd was larger than the one that gathered on Friday night, and he said that trying to move so many people might have created more problems for officers.
“Little 500 brings people from all over the country. Alumni come from all over the country to come back to Bloomington,” he said. “Guns aren't welcome. Violence isn’t welcome. But coming and having a good time is, and that’s the message.”Mayor Thomson said that the city would review policies and procedures for handling large crowds but some factors are beyond their control.
“It has been suggested that we forbid guns from public gatherings in the future in Bloomington. Unfortunately, Indiana gun laws prohibit such action, and if the gun laws remain as they are, anyone can open carry,” Thomson said.
According to IU officials, no students were injured.
Hoosiers were already back at Kirkwood Avenue's outdoor restaurants Sunday afternoon, enjoying the warm weather and clear skies.
Fernando Peral came in from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte to visit fraternity brothers at IU. Exhausted from a day of partying, he checked in early Saturday night while his friends continued toward Kirkwood Avenue.
“We were all kind of concerned when they started texting, ‘There’s a shooting, blah, blah, blah, shots fired,’” he said.
Perel said he went from feeling exhausted to alert, worried for his friends.
“I was very concerned, making sure everyone was OK,” he said. “You never know, especially in this day and age, what’s happening.”
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University of Saint Francis student Tracey Dowling said he had just left Kirkwood before the shooting happened. He said he’d been having a great weekend.
“I think that the atmosphere was, like, really good, seeing diversity among races, different majors, different backgrounds,” he said. “It was a cool experience.”
Dowling was surprised to learn what went down after he headed out.
“I'm like, dang, we were just there, so I was kind of shocked,” Dowling said. “My heart’s out to them.”
Ethan Sandweiss and Joe Hren contributed to this report.
