A 19-year-old woman was shot and killed and seven other people were wounded early Sunday in a shooting near Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois. Police say the woman was pronounced dead at the scene, another woman was left in critical condition, and six additional victims suffered injuries believed to be non-life-threatening.
Officers responded to a report of multiple shots fired in the 100 block of East Division Street at approximately 1:23 a.m., according to 25 News Now. The location sits near Illinois Wesleyan University, and officers arriving on scene found numerous gunshot victims, as reported by NBC Chicago.
The McLean County Coroner pronounced the 19-year-old woman dead at the scene, according to Central Illinois Proud. Her identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, and an autopsy on her remains pending, the outlet reports. A second woman was transported to a regional trauma center and remains in critical condition, while the six other victims sustained injuries believed to be non-life-threatening at this time.
Scene Secured, Evidence Still Being Gathered
The Illinois State Police and the McLean County Sheriff's Office helped secure the scene immediately after the shooting, the station's report notes. The Bloomington Police Department's Crime Scene Unit has been actively collecting and processing evidence as the investigation continues. Per NBC Chicago, residents who live on Center Street and Emerson Street were asked to review security camera, doorbell camera, and dash camera footage for any possible evidence tied to the shooting.
Authorities believe the shooting is an isolated incident and say there is no ongoing threat to public safety, per the same account. A low-confidence search-result snippet attributed to WGLT indicated that no one was in custody and that police did not yet have suspect information, though that detail has not been independently confirmed elsewhere. Mayor Dan Brady said the Bloomington Police Department is actively investigating the shooting, and the probe remains underway.
A Second Mass Shooting Near a Local Campus This Year
Sunday's shooting marks the second mass-casualty shooting this year in the Bloomington-Normal area tied to the vicinity of a local university. On March 22, six people — including two juveniles — were shot in a residential neighborhood in Normal, about one mile north of the Illinois Wesleyan University campus and just south of Illinois State University, according to Illinois Public Radio. That shooting happened in the 700 block of Franklin Avenue, and none of the injuries was considered life-threatening.
The victims in the March incident included two boys, two men and two women, with two identified as Illinois State University students, according to the Chicago Tribune. Illinois Wesleyan University said at the time that it appeared no one from the university was involved and noted that students had been on spring break.
Gun Violence Has Been Climbing Locally
Sunday's shooting comes amid a documented rise in gun violence across Bloomington-Normal. Shooting incidents in the twin cities jumped 43% in 2024 compared with the prior year, while law-enforcement gun seizures rose 18%, according to data reported by WGLT. Gun violence incidents in the area injured eight people and killed two that year.
Juvenile involvement has been a particular concern for local police. Bloomington saw more than a 200% increase in juvenile arrests involving guns in 2024, and juvenile court cases involving guns more than tripled, climbing from four in 2023 to 14 in 2024, per the same report. Bloomington Police Chief Jamal Simington has said the average age of a gun offender in the city is 19, and about 40% of guns recently recovered by Bloomington police after a crime had been used locally in another shots-fired incident.
