Community coming together to fight crime after deadly shooting

“We want to help. We want to be part of the solution and not the problem, so what can we do to help,” said South Bend community leader Lynn Coleman.

Just two hours before tragedy struck at a street corner in a northwest side neighborhood of South Bend, a plan was announced to bring the entire community together just one block away and help put an end to the violence happening there. Local pastors, Coleman and South Bend Police Captain Tim Lancaster will speak at event.

“We need to do something, not wait on the city or the establishment,” said Coleman.

Some of the major issues former South Bend police officer and city official Lynn Coleman says are hitting that area: drugs and deadly disputes.

“People getting along with each other. For whatever reason, you disrespect me, I disrespect you, we don’t talk about it because it’s easier to pull out a gun to shoot someone,” said Coleman.

Coleman, who is part of the group planning that community gathering, says it’s not up to one party to make the changes he says need to happen there.

“This cannot be left up to the police department or the prosecutor’s office or the community. I don’t think that the organizers of this event have the answers and I think they’re admitting that, but I think what they are saying is that they’re willing to help,” said Coleman.

He says he’s also looking to the future after something like what happened Wednesday night.

It’s important for us to do something for those little kids that just rolled by so that they can have a better life than what we see now,” said Coleman.

That community effort is being held Saturday from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the corner grass lot on Elmer Street and Elwood Avenue in South Bend. It is open to the public.