Six shot including two ISU students at off-campus party in Normal, Illinois
Six people, including two juveniles and two Illinois State University students, were shot at an apartment parking lot party in Normal early Sunday. No arrests have been made.
Mass shooting at Normal apartment party leaves six wounded, no arrests made
Six people — among them two juveniles and two Illinois State University students — were shot in the early hours of Sunday morning in a residential neighbourhood just south of the ISU campus in Normal, Illinois, ipmnewsroom.org reports.
Police responded at around 2:40 a.m. to the 700 block of Franklin Avenue, a mixed apartment and residential street situated between the ISU campus and the Carle BroMenn Medical Center. Officers arrived to find multiple people outside with gunshot wounds. All six were transported to hospital; none of the injuries were considered life-threatening.
The victims include two juvenile males, two adult males and two adult females, Normal Police said. ISU Police confirmed in a statement that two of those injured are enrolled students at the university.
Normal Police spokesperson Brad Park said the shooting occurred in the parking lot of an apartment building where a large gathering had assembled. Based on the preliminary investigation, police described the incident as isolated. As of 6 p.m. Sunday, no arrests had been made and no suspects had been identified.
No campus alert issued — criticism follows
ISU did not send an Emergency Alert to its campus community following the shooting, a decision that drew criticism. Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, who has a personal connection to one of the victims, was among those who objected to the absence of an alert. The university has issued such notifications for other recent off-campus shooting incidents, including one on 14 February that left a 16-year-old injured, a shots-fired report on Cherry Street in 2023, and another on Main Street in 2022.
A university spokesperson said Normal Police are handling the investigation given that the incident occurred off-campus, but gave no explanation for why no alert was sent. ISU Police Chief Aaron Woodruff said campus notifications are issued on a case-by-case basis "based on the totality of the circumstances." He added in an email: "There have been numerous similar incidents off campus where we did not send an alert but issued a crime advisory or community update so this is not an outlier."
Normal Police Chief Steve Petrilli said Sunday afternoon that he was unable to provide additional details about the investigation, citing the involvement of juveniles. "I can say we have zero tolerance for violence in Normal, and we are utilizing all of our resources to identify and bring the responsible suspect(s) to justice," he said.
Pattern of gun violence near ISU
Sunday's shooting is the latest in a series of gun violence incidents in and around the ISU campus. Last April, one person was shot outside an event at ISU's Bone Student Center. On 29 September 2024, a separate shooting near the Bone during ISU's homecoming weekend left one person dead and another injured.
The Franklin Avenue shooting took place approximately one mile north of the Illinois Wesleyan University campus. IWU spokesperson Ann Aubry said the university does not believe any of its students were involved, and noted that IWU students had been on spring break during the past week.
Source: Jamaica Observer