South Bend Mayor James Mueller says police investigators are nearing a break in the case of a September shooting that left three people dead on Bissell Street, telling reporters that multiple shooters were involved and that an update could come within weeks. More than a month after the gunfire tore through a crowd that police estimate topped 100 people, no arrests have been announced, but the mayor says detectives are closing in.
Mayor Points to Multiple Shooters, Promises Update Soon
Mueller said investigators are nearing a break in the investigation into the triple-fatal shooting on Bissell Street in September, according to WNDU. “Those were multiple shooters in that incident, so we’re getting close,” Mueller told the station, adding that he hoped to share news on the investigation in the coming weeks. He also said he was confident justice would be served in the case.
The shooting happened Saturday, Sept. 19, in the 1300 block of Bissell Street, per the same report. Killed were 22-year-old Geimisha Broadnax, Jo'Von Hopper and Alaya Maez, according to WSBT. Two of the victims died at the scene, and a third victim died three days later, WNDU reported.
Victim Was Celebrating a Notre Dame Football Game
Broadnax was an Indianapolis native who graduated from Warren Central High School and Indiana University Bloomington, the station's reporting noted. According to WTHR, Broadnax was in South Bend celebrating the Notre Dame-Michigan State football game earlier that evening, per her mother, Keimisha Dillard.
South Bend police estimate that the crowd on Bissell Street exceeded 100 people that night, the station's report states. Yet South Bend Police say multiple people were around when the shooting happened, but no witnesses have come forward, WSBT reported as of earlier this month. Detectives have conducted numerous interviews and continue to execute search warrants, according to 953 MNC, though police say they’re withholding certain details to protect the case.
No Arrests Yet as Investigation Continues
As of Oct. 9, nobody had been arrested in the case, according to the Hoosier Enquirer. Police are asking anyone with information to contact the South Bend Police Department, per WNDU's report, or reach out anonymously through Michiana Crime Stoppers.
A Broader Debate Over Clearance Rates
The Bissell Street case has unfolded alongside a separate dispute between Mueller and the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office over how well local homicides get solved. Mueller has said South Bend's Violent Crimes Unit clears more than 90 percent of homicides, while the former St. Joseph County Metro Homicide Unit had a 53 percent clearance rate in 2021, before it was disbanded, according to WNDU's coverage of the dispute. The prosecutor's office, for its part, has reported a 69 percent clearance rate for that same countywide unit from 2016 until it was disbanded in 2021.
The numbers have shifted depending on who is counting and over what time frame. At an Oct. 1 news conference, Mueller said the countywide unit investigated 103 South Bend homicides from 2016 to 2021 and cleared 56 of them, a 54 percent rate, the Hoosier Enquirer reported. The prosecutor's office has countered that, from 2016 through Oct. 15, 2021, there were 107 homicides and 73 solved cases, or roughly 68 percent, per the same outlet's reporting.
Separately, data released by the former homicide unit and reported by WIBC shows the task force investigated 365 homicides across St. Joseph County from 2003 through October 2021, solving 288 of them for a 79 percent overall clearance rate — a figure WIBC notes exceeded the national average of 61 percent for that same period. The unit was officially dissolved on Oct. 15, 2021, after South Bend withdrew its remaining officers, according to the outlet. South Bend officials have also said nine people had been killed in the city by Oct. 1, two more than at the same point in 2025, the Hoosier Enquirer reported.
