Witnesses speak out after giving aid to South Bend shooting victim

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) -New details after a shooting on South Bend’s west side left one person with injuries and others scrambling to the victim’s aid.

Authorities were dispatched to the intersection of N. Adams Street and Lincolnway West around 10:15 p.m. Wednesday night on a reported shooting with just one victim.

Being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time can lead to tragic outcomes, but luckily the folks inside the Marathon Gas Station were in the right place at the right time to help control the bleeding.

“We’re on our way to the corner of Lincoln Way West and North Adams Street at Marathon. Priority 2 response for a gunshot wound. PD are in route, medics are to stage, and we are gathering further,” said a dispatcher after shots rang out.

In that time, Morgan Nelson and her cousin Isis Ray made sure the victim wasn’t alone after walking into the Marathon convenience store with a bullet lodged in his leg.

“It was bad. It was like--you know when a woman’s water breaks? That’s what it was looking like coming out from the bottom of his shorts. It was so much blood that anytime he moved it would just pour out,” said one of the witnesses who rendered aid to the victim, Morgan Nelson.

“I asked if he was ok first, and then he had said he got shot. As soon as he said that, a rush of blood came running down his leg. So, I did take my shirt off and I tried to tie it as tight as I could because I knew I couldn’t make an actual tourniquet out of it. It wasn’t big enough,” said the witness who used improvised her shirt as a tourniquet, Isis Ray.

First responder arrived within 5-10 minutes after the shooting took place, but time seemed to stand still for these cousins.

“It felt like forever honestly but the whole situation was probably 10 minutes?” Nelson said.

Medics transported the victim to the hospital, deeming his injuries non-life threatening.

Who knows if that would have been the case had these cousins not acted so quickly?

“I feel like I wasn’t there at the wrong time. I was there at the right time,” Ray said.

Police tell 16 News Now that they can’t add many more details about the shooting as they continue to search for a suspect.

Anyone with information is asked to reach out to the South Bend Police Department.

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