At least nine people were wounded in an early Sunday shooting on Kirkwood Avenue in Bloomington, and police had not taken any suspects into custody by 1 p.m. Monday. Investigators said the gunfire broke out just after 12:25 a.m. in the 400 block of East Kirkwood Avenue, where a crowd had gathered and then scattered when shots rang out.
One victim suffered a bullet wound and injuries from bullet fragments, four others were hurt by bullet fragments and the rest had cuts and scrapes while running from the area. All of the victims were in stable condition Sunday, and all but one had been released from the hospital by then. Six injured people were taken by ambulance, one was transported in a Bloomington police squad car and two went to hospitals in personal vehicles.
The case quickly became a multiagency response because the shooting happened near Indiana University. Bloomington police, IU police, Monroe County sheriff's deputies and Indiana State Police all helped at the scene, where investigators used remotely piloted aerial vehicles and a state police helicopter to document what happened. An IU Notify alert later told students and others that officers had responded to shots fired west of Dunn Street and said no shots were fired on the IU campus.
By Monday, investigators said they had reviewed cell phone and video footage from nearby businesses and saw multiple people draw handguns. Police believe two males fired after a fight that was believed to have started between two females near Five Guys on Kirkwood Avenue. Shell casings were found at the scene, but BPD had released no official descriptions of the two suspects as of 1 p.m. Monday.
Mayor Kerry Thomson said the city had more clarity about the sequence of events than it did in the chaotic hours after the shooting. Her comments underscored the gap between the footage investigators say they have and the unanswered question that still hangs over the case: who fired first, and why no one had been arrested more than a day later. Anyone with information can contact Bloomington police at 812-339-4477.
