THE OTHER SIDE OF LITTLE FIVE — Last Friday night (~1 a.m. Saturday morning), four people were shot across two downtown Bloomington locations: First came the news of three people shot at Kalao, a new rum bar/nightclub with an exotic atmosphere in the former Japonee building on North Walnut Street, and then reports of another person shot outside the public library on our beloved Kirkwood Avenue.

Thankfully, each of the wounded victims survived, but police still don’t know if the events are related.

Moments before gunshots broke out, my housemates and I had been driving around the greater Bloomington area to people-watch and get a few laughs in. I waved at people and talked to them in funny voices, and was generally reveling in as much fun as a nearly 32-year-old could have on a night that looks like the Apocalypse. I was nearing my fill, and the car crew dropped me off at the house so I could get some rest.

The moment I crawled into bed, I got this haunting series of messages:

Two of my fall-semester students work at Kalao.

My heart sank. My jaw fell. My blood began to go numb. I fell back in bed and closed my eyes. Please God, don’t let my students die.

Rarely, if ever, had we so brazenly and openly encountered live gunfire in the densest stretch of the city, let alone during the busiest part of the year. It was our worst fears, actualized, yet again, after all the sad things that have already happened here before in the form of missing and murdered students.

These shootings were a another emotional setback to our attempted best efforts as Bloomingtonians and IU alumni to take care of young residents during a volatile weekend.

And so it was that I stayed up until 5 a.m., listening to a free police scanner app, hoping my Kalao students were still alive, maybe even home safe themselves, as the rest of downtown panicked between a lack of public messaging and other bars locking down for immediate safety.

Doesn’t feel like it has to be this way.

I’ve lived in Bloomington for 13 years now. Our best efforts still seem to land us in the darkest timeline, if only momentarily, with each passing April.

I’m extremely grateful nobody is dead, and that my students at Kalao are seemingly OK (physically, at least), but it’s safe to say this past weekend was a scary time for Bloomington.

All I want is for everyone to have a good, safe time during Little 500. My attitude may seem simplistic, but it doesn’t seem like our current reality has to be so difficult.

###

-moose