In a tragic incident that unfolded at the Harvest Homecoming Festival in New Albany, Indiana, an 18-year-old high school football star, Bryce Gerlach, was killed.
The senior from Corydon Central High School is being remembered as a hero for his selfless act of shielding others when gunfire broke out at the fall festival.
According to The New York Post, the incident occurred when at least two groups engaged in a heated argument that quickly escalated into violence. Gerlach was one of three innocent bystanders hit during the shooting. It is believed that he used his body as a shield to protect others in his group from the barrage of bullets. Tanner Chumly, a close friend of Gerlach, paid tribute to his heroic act, saying, "It was very selfless what he did, and Im thankful he went out in such a heroic way so thats how people remember him because thats what he was he was a hero."
The shooting took place just before 10 p.m. on Saturday near State Street and Black Avenue, where the festival rides were located, less than a block from the Ohio River and the Indiana-Kentucky border. The police suspect that there were multiple shooters involved, firing from different directions, leading to the unfortunate incident.
New Albany Police Chief Todd Bailey, during a press conference on Sunday morning, expressed his belief that all the victims were completely unrelated to the dispute that led to the shooting. The persons of interest, identified as Black males in their teens and early 20s, are yet to be apprehended. Bailey described the suspects, who fled the scene, as a danger to the public due to the reckless nature of their actions.
New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan expressed his dismay over the incident and the gun violence that led to Gerlach's death. He lamented, "Weve enjoyed a safe Harvest Homecoming for nearly 57 years, but sadly, this type of gun violence is now all too common across the United States. Gun violence at a family festival is heartbreaking and tragic, and our country must find a way to come together to stop this type of violence."
In addition to Gerlach, Brendan Hagan and a 42-year-old woman were also injured in the shooting. Hagan, who was with his girlfriend and 10-month-old son, was hit in the leg as he tried to move away from the arguing teens. He recounted, "I heard gunshots ringing off. It was either the first or second one that hit me right in my leg. Thats when I hit the ground for maybe half a second, but my adrenaline rush was going straight through the roof, so I got up on my left leg and got out of the way." The unidentified woman was hit in her lower extremities and has since been treated and released.
The Harvest Homecoming events scheduled for Sunday were canceled in the wake of the shooting. Gerlach, who was actively looking at colleges with his father, was set to play his final home football game on Friday as part of a senior send-off. Mark Eastridge, Superintendent of South Harrison Community School Corporation, shared that Gerlach's father had planned to meet with recruiters about his son's college football prospects.
Gerlach's father condemned the "evil" shooting that claimed his son's life, asserting that "evil will not win" and "good and love will triumph." Eastridge echoed these sentiments, expressing the difficulty the school district is facing in coping with Gerlach's death. He said, "You had a young man that was just going out to enjoy himself with friends at a local festival, and to have his innocence and his life ripped from him by the senseless violence, it makes it all the more difficult to deal with as a school and a school community."
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