Shooting sends stray bullets flying into Elkhart neighborhood

ELKHART, Ind. – A shooting sent stray bullets flying into a house on the 300-block of Fetters Court in Elkhart on Saturday afternoon.

Police were called to the intersection of Fetters Court and Main Street just before 5:00 p.m. and, according to witnesses, found at least six shell casings.  At least three stray bullets went flying towards nearby homes, two hit Tyler Cramer’s home.

“Sitting on the living room couch, door open, it was real nice out,” Cramer described.  “Heard a couple of shots go off, heard one come right past the front door, heard another one hit the house.”

One bullet slammed into the frame of a window next to Cramer’s front door, another bashed into the wall of a second floor room where his roommate’s children stay.

“We got real lucky no one was hurt, not a lot of people outside, surprisingly, in middle of the day,” Cramer explained.  “Things tend to go worse when the weather gets nice like this, people tend to go outside a lot more, confrontations with people walking down the street even sometimes.”

Patty Lopez, who lives a few doors down on Main Street, agreed that things get worse when the weather gets nice but said the neighborhood has some sort of violent crime occur at least once a week.

“Something’s always happening, if there’s not shootings, if there’s not robberies, something’s always bound to happen,” described Lopez.  “You know to wait for something.”

Lopez had been inside her home with her five children when Saturday’s shooting happened.

“Loud pops, we heard a tire screeching and a car leaving really fast, told my kids to get down,” she described.  “Stray bullets, they no eyes and they literally claim numbers of lives and I’m not trying to have one of my kids be part of that.”

Both Cramer and Lopez said they’d like to see a stepped up police presence in their neighborhood, which sits just a few blocks away from downtown Elkhart.  They pointed out that police should patrol the alleyways off of South Main Street where they say most of the criminal activity happens.

“Can someone do something better to improve the safety around here?” asked Lopez.  “Because I and along with other parents around here, we can’t do it on our own.”

Elkhart Police said the investigation into Saturday’s shooting is “inactive” pending more information because they received no suspect description at the time of the shooting.