Four shootings in 48 hours left neighbors in South Bend and Elkhart worried

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - New details tonight on two overnight shootings in South Bend. They both happened on the city’s northwest side.

The first shooting on North Huey Street left a 25-year-old with a gunshot wound to his leg. That second shooting happened on Kenwood Avenue and a bullet ripped through a 30-year-old’s shoulder.

South bend police say both victims will be okay. They do not believe either incident is related.

But the shootings add to an already violent weekend in Michiana and neighbors say they want the violence to stop!

A violent weekend in Michiana continues Sunday

“I just heard fire go off, gunshots, around 1:30 am,” Curtis, a neighbor on Huey Street said.

“I saw some people hit the car and they fell back. My wife was going to run outside. I said ‘no.’ I shut the door. Right before I shut the door, I heard shots,” Curtis Cathey, a neighbor on Sampson Street said.

“The window is shot up, 13, 14 times. The bullet traveled from one room into another room. And exit out the east side of the house,” Albert Johnson, a neighbor on Kenwood Avenue said.

Four shootings in 48 hours between South Bend and Elkhart, left these neighbors impacted by gun violence, loved ones mourning the loss of two teenagers and three people recovering from gunshot wounds.

“You hear gunshots day and night around here. And you worry about the kids as well as yourself cause bullets don’t know any certain direction. It’s pretty scary… you know,” Curtis said.

There were shootings from Sampson Street on the city’s Northeast side, to Huey street on the Northwest side and Kenwood Avenue on the West side, to over in Elkhart, on Wagner Avenue.

“This is a small city and people are getting killed here innocently for no reason so we have to take control of this. The people, the community, and the police have to take control of this here killing,” Johnson said.

Community leaders, like South Bend Common Council President Tim Scott, said the issue is on their mind too.

“People that are involved in these shootings aren’t going to be listening to a common council representative. They’re not going to be listening to the mayor, the police chief, that sort of thing,” Scott said.

He said that members of the Common Council, the Mayor’s office as well as community leaders continue to research group intervention and peacemaker programs in an effort to end the gunfire.

“It is literally going to take people that know, people that are working within these groups to go to them, go to their houses, go to where they are staying and get down to the root cause,” Scott said. “There’s going to be more coming from the Mayor’s budget and from the city council budget on these types of activities.”

Scott said there will be more about the peacemaking sessions in the future.

Meanwhile, police in South Bend and Elkhart ask anyone with information on any of these shootings to contact them.

No suspects have been named yet.