Muncie man shot dead, 19 others hurt in mass shooting at block party

Muncie, Indiana – After a shooting spree at a neighborhood block party in Muncie, one man is dead and as least 19 other people have been hurt.

According to witnesses, several persons fired rounds into the gathering. Police continue to seek for leads.

The community’s enjoyment of the crossroads of Hackley and Willard changed to tragedy. There is a modest monument here. Community members argue that this senseless violence must end, despite the fact that the motive for this shooting is unclear.

Fireworks continued into the night. Many of the bullets, according to witnesses, had no apparent targets, but 19 individuals were hit, and one guy died.

“Being that my nephew was the victim, and that really touched home. When I get to thinking about how I feel about the violence in our community. It’s a terrible thing because of the way our youth is now,” said Johnny Strong.

The community, he claims, has had many losses, but none quite like this. He calls himself a community activist. He claims that the deceased man was Joseph Barner, his 30-year-old nephew. While the police are still looking into Joe Smooth, strong is also trying to learn more.

“A lot of crying. A lot of crying. A lot of agitated people. A lot of people that were real angry,” he said.

“When tragedy like this happens, there’s not much you can do but work towards a more peaceful and loving community.”

“It’s sad that people don’t think about others when they do stupid things like that,” said community member Vinny Lane. “I just feel like we need to be more worried about just sticking together and stopping the violence.”

“We bind the enemy that comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but he says that we come so that we may have life,” said one community member during an impromptu prayer.

The city had been holding its “Back2Muncie” event all week. Even though the shooting did not take place during the celebrations’ block party, its effects are felt by all.

Despite the postponed gospel celebration at McCulloch Park, many in attendance participated in an impromptu prayer meeting. Strong predicts that the solution will take some time while police investigate what happened.

“The more we pour off into our youth, the more we get back. We can’t give up on our streets.”