Two men are believed to be behind the mass shooting near the Indiana University campus in Bloomington that left nine people injured — including five young women hit by bullets or fragments, police said Sunday.
Just before the violence erupted at a celebration over the “Little 500” college cycling race on the city’s popular strip of Kirkwood Avenue, a fight had broken out between two women in front of a Five Guys restaurant, Bloomington Police Chief Mike Diekhoff told reporters.
During the confrontation, two male suspects pulled out their handguns and fired in the dense crowd at around 12:25 a.m., with five women injured by the gunfire and bullet fragments, Diekhoff said.
The two women involved in the fight were not injured, and the motives of the male shooters remain unclear, authorities said.
The other people injured were hurt during the ensuing stampede, officials said.
No students were injured, officials said, adding that the victims were all from out of town.
The injured were identified as a 17-year-old who was hit by fragments in her foot and ankle, an 18-year-old struck in the ankle and shin, a 21-year-old hit in her shin and thighs and a 22-year-old with embedded fragments in the back of her thigh.
A 20-year-old victim suffered a direct gunshot that traveled through her body from her abdomen to her armpit, but it remains unclear which way the bullet entered and exited, Diekhoff noted.
One of the victims remained in the hospital under stable condition, with the rest treated and released Sunday, officials said.
Bloomington Mayor Kerry Thomson condemned the shooting as emblematic of the state’s open-carry gun laws.
“It has been suggested that we forbid guns from public gatherings in the future in Bloomington,” Thomson said. “Unfortunately, Indiana gun laws prohibit such action.
“And iif gun laws remain as they are — anyone can open carry … we encourage you to speak up to those who can change our gun laws.”
