City of South Bend sees its 100th shooting vitctim

SOUTH BEND, Ind.- It’s not a number the city of South Bend aspired to get to: 100. That’s how many people have fallen victims to gun fire.

Thursday morning a man was shot near the corner of Calvert and Clyde on the city’s southeast side. The victim, who is in his 30’s, is still in the hospital listed in stable condition.

The St. Joseph County’s 911 Dispatch Center has received call after call and it’s not just one person trying to deal with these calls for help.

The chain of communication is what gets these victims the help they need as fast as possible. Through the police scanners you can hear, “Caller heard two gunshots, possibly getting further.”

“A shooting of any kind is a critical incident that definitely takes time to process, even the simplest ones,” says Diana Scott, operations manager of St. Joseph County’s 911 Dispatch Center.

Scott explained what happens when they get a call. “Of course the most important information is the location of the shooting any information that the caller might have from the suspects, if they’re still on scene,” she says. “The victims and their injuries.”

Green means they’re on a call at the moment. Blue lights relate to a police channel and red means callers need a supervisor.

“You can imagine if it happens between 2, 3,4 o’clock in the afternoon we get a lot more calls than at 3 o’clock in the morning during the week,” says Scott.

Scott adds she can’t really pinpoint a time or day that shootings are more prevalent. “To say a time or date they happen, you just really don’t know.”

During the early hours of Thursday morning, police were called to a home on Calvert. “1314 if you can go to 1341 Calvert, possible shooting victim at this location, still getting further,” according to the scanner.

Meanwhile, South Bend officers were searching for evidence in the city’s 100th shooting that send a man in his 30s to the hospital.

“At least one gunshot wound to the abdomen, he’s barely conscious.”

Scott says she didn’t realize how many shootings have happened, but can attest to the recent amount.“It would seem that we had a lot of shootings especially here in the last couple of weeks.”

Police continue the search for the two men involved in Thursday morning’s attempted robbery.