Amid declining gun violence, South Bend neighbors seek solutions after chaotic shooting

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Neighbors on Bissell Street are pleading for large weekend gatherings to stop following recent violence.

One longtime resident says he’s seen upwards of two hundred people gather along Bissell Street on a single Saturday night and has called the police five separate times regarding late night parties. He describes the aftermath of this weekend’s shooting as pure hysteria. He’s lived in the neighborhood since the 1960s but was too afraid to show his face on camera. “How I felt? When is this going to stop happening” says the Bissell Street resident, “Use more judgement and common sense, put the guns down, learn how to talk to each other”.

How to safely police crowds that size is a challenge South Bend Mayor James Mueller is openly questioning.

“Now the question is, what do you do when, you know, there's large groups of people who many of whom may be carrying concealed weapons,” says Mayor Mueller, “and that's a challenge that that we face here, not just here, but in our country, and those are questions that we need to get better answers”.

Bissell Street residents say a simple police presence could go a long way in preventing another chaotic night.

“Whenever there's a gathering in this area if the police could just drive down the street,” says the Bissell Street resident, “or if they know something is going to be going on, they can just park a police car.

City data offers a broader context: The number of criminally assaulted shooting victims in South Bend has actually been declining since 2020. Data for 2026 reflects numbers through the end of August.