Retired South Bend cop calls on community to come together following violent weekend

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - In the last four days, three homicides hit South Bend, two major mass shootings made its way across the country, but all have one thing in common: gun violence.

Lynn Coleman, a retired South Bend Police Officer says it has become a reoccurring theme in cities both large, like Chicago, and small like South Bend.

“It’s actually scary to me where this country is going. At one point, there was like over 30 people shot in Chicago over the weekend,” Coleman said. “Thursday night, we had a homicide. Friday night, we had two homicides. It’s on and on and on.”

The violence began on Thursday when a shooting left one man dead in the 1200 block of Huey Street.

Two more people were shot and killed a little more than 24 hours later— one at Lasalle Park Holmes, the other in the 1100 block of Cedar Street.

On Saturday, a mass shooting left10 people dead at a New York supermarket. And finally on Sunday, another mass shooting. This one happening at a California church killing one and injuring several others.

Today, the University of Notre Dame announcing its offering counseling to anyone who needs it following the weekend violence.

As for Coleman, he says slowing down the ongoing streak of violence begins and ends with three things: morality, accountability and leadership.

“We have to begin to be shown how important it is to embrace each other, to love each other, to care for one another. And if you are willing to go out and take someone else’s life, be prepared because you are setting the stage that someone might take yours,” Colemans says.

So far, no arrests have been made in any of the three shootings in South Bend. As for the victims, results are still pending from autopsies conducted Monday morning.

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