Neighbors respond to three shootings in South Bend

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The South Bend Police Department is still investigating after three shootings within 24 hours in the city left three people hurt.

Police are still investigating all three shootings, two of which happened just blocks from each other.

As for neighbors, they say they just aren’t surprised anymore.

“For the last two years, it’s been in my neighborhood, very close. Blocks, only blocks. Now, only a house away,” Tonia Schrock said.

Since Schrock  moved to south bend, she's seen the violence.

“I’m kind of getting used to it, which sounds crazy,” Schrock said.

Yesterday, it was right in her backyard.

For Allen-Michael Francis, who has lived in this neighborhood more than half his life, he's used to the violence in the area.

“It’s been pretty bad for about ten years,” Francis said.

But he says the difference now is in the amount of kids involved.

“The problem with the shootings in the area now is we got kids dying and it’s not cool,” he said.

Now he worries about his own.

“I don’t leave them outside at night. I don’t let them come outside. We come out, we play and everything during the day,” he said.

The sound of gunshots, for these neighbors, is all too familiar.

“It’s really sad to have something like a shooting or the sound of a gun be normal,” Schrock said.

When asked if she feels safe, “I ask myself that every day, how safe I feel and if I should relocate.”

So, what's a solution? Francis said there needs to be more after-school programs for teenagers.

“There’s nothing to keep the kids or teenagers out of trouble,” Francis said. “Schools used to do after-school programs like have the boys and girls club and everything come in. Like, they used to do over here at pearly. They don’t even do that anymore.”

One neighbor close to the Cedar Street shooting said they are so used to shots fired that they only come outside if they hear sirens or someone screaming.

South Bend Police confirmed that there are two possible leads for the suspects in two of the three shootings.