Another deadly downtown shooting concerns residents

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. --- An early morning shooting over the weekend claimed the life of a young, South Bend man identified Monday as 24-year-old Eddie Tyler. 

It happened just after 3am on Sunday morning in the 200 block of South Lafayette Boulevard in downtown South Bend. 

It’s the second shooting to take place downtown in a bit over a month, sparking some concerns from city residents and officials about public safety. 

“I don’t feel completely safe,” says Crystal Gordon, a South Bend resident. 

It’s especially a concern for those who are regularly walking the streets of downtown.  

“It does make me a little bit nervous, you know especially with my kids,” Gordon admits. 

Sunday's shooting on South Lafayette Boulevard claimed the life of a 24-year-old young man, and it comes after a deadly shooting at a downtown parking garage.  

Both shootings happened overnight.  

“I feel slightly better being here during the day when there’s other people walking around and things like that,” Gordon says. 

“I usually walk during the day and if I walk far, it’ll be when it’s light out, so I guess at night I’ll just hang closer to my apartment,” says another resident who lives downtown, Gen Dowd. 

That’s something Councilmember Henry Davis Jr. is afraid of. With the shooting happening in his district, he thinks more attention needs to be paid to preventing the crime rather than scaring people away from living downtown.  

“We’re spending millions of dollars in subsidizing, affordable housing in downtown South Bend, while we have this dangerous situation that occurred and continues to occur,” says Henry Davis Jr., 2nd district councilmember. 

It’s especially a rising concern as warmer weather and summer quickly approaches, and residents are spending more time downtown. They say the recent shootings aren’t going to stop them, but just make them more cautious.   

“Remain safe,” Davis advises. “We’ll do as much as we can to protect you, obviously there’s a lot more that we should be doing.”  

“You know I think I’ll just keep going and hoping for the best as dark as that is,” says Dowd. 

There is no suspect at this time and the South Bend Police Department’s Violent Crimes Unit is handling the investigation. If you know anything about the shooting or events leading up to it, you're urged to call Michiana Crime Stoppers at 574-288-STOP. All calls can remain anonymous.