One dead and one seriously injured in shooting near ISU after large “pop-up party”

One person was killed and another was critically injured in a shooting early Sunday near Illinois State University in Normal. Police described this as a violent end to an unsanctioned “pop-up party” on Homecoming weekend.

The shooting happened around 3:30 a.m. near the intersection of University and Locust streets in Normal. That’s close to both ISU’s Bone Student Center and Hancock Stadium, where ISU played its homecoming football game hours earlier. Police said they were breaking up a large party at the nearby Circle K gas station when shots were fired.

The two victims were taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds. One died and the other was in critical condition, police said around 9 a.m. Sunday. They have not been identified.

ISU police said the shooting resulted from a “‘pop-up party’ of over 1,000 people, not organized or sanctioned by the university, that started in a park and moved to a gas station.”

In fact, images and videos circulating on TikTok and the anonymous social platform Yik Yak showed hundreds of people gathering at the Circle K gas station in Normal, west of the intersection of University and Locust, where the shooting occurred. It’s unclear whether the images and videos were taken around the time before the shooting, but they were released around that time.

“ISU Police respect everyone’s right to celebrate,” the police department said on Facebook. “Celebrations in the form of large “pop-up parties” on public property without permission or on the property of non-consenting businesses are unacceptable and damage public and private property, disrupt local businesses and neighborhoods, and consume significant ISU and city resources. There was also gun violence in our community today.”

This video was shared with WGLT early Sunday. WGLT was unable to determine exactly when the video was recorded. (The video does not contain sound.)

Police have been raising concerns about these types of pop-up parties in the weeks since college students returned to Bloomington-Normal, WGLT previously reported.

In late August, city staff confirmed what they called five “problematic situations” in its parks as of August 15. Large, disruptive parties were reported at Ironwood, Anderson, Underwood and Maxwell parks.

In these cases, the party hosts had proper city and police permits, but had violated city regulations by allowing the consumption of alcohol and drugs. Normal Police at the time said the pop-up parties mainly involved students and sometimes student organizations.

The city’s communications director, Cathy Oloffson, described the events as “pop-up parties” promoted through personal social media. She said there were an unspecified number of violations of the ordinance.

Police remained at the scene at 8 a.m. Sunday. Evidence markers were visible on a sidewalk near the intersection of University and Locust.

The regular police are investigating. Anyone with information about Sunday’s shooting is asked to contact Normal Police at 309-454-9535. Tips can also be left anonymously by texting 847411, entering NORMALPD, then your tip.

This was at least the second shooting in Normal in the last 24 hours. Regular police also investigated a shooting incident that rocked a business in the 600 block of West Raab Road around 2:45 a.m. Saturday. Several bullet casings were collected from the scene.

WGLT tracks known shootings and shootings on an interactive map:

This story will be updated.