Neighbor of house party where 23-year-old fatally shot: ‘We were very lucky’

I-Team 8: 1 dies after deadly shooting at house party in Bloomington, Indiana

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH-TV) — A house party just off Indiana University’s campus turned deadly early Sunday morning because of a shooting.

The Monroe County coroner has identified 23-year-old Tyriq Bridgwaters as the person who died at the scene.

A memorial for Bridgwaters on Monday sat in the yard next to the house where the party happened.

Neighbors told I-Team 8 the area is filled with college-aged people who rent homes close to campus.

IU senior Pratul Raja said, “We’ve actually lived on this street for 2-3 years now and nothing like this has ever happened.”

Raja lives two doors down from where the shooting happened. He and his roommates were returning from a night out on Kirkwood Avenue when they saw the scene of the shooting. “When we got here we saw cop cars and we assumed it just, like, a party being shut down or something like that, but as we got closer we realized the severity of the situation.”

If Raja had been home, he and his friends could have gotten caught in the gunfire. “We were very lucky. There was actually a bullet hole right above a window that one of our roommates always sits on, on the couch, so we were very fortunate that none of us were here.”

Raja added, “The person that had the party, they’ve had parties all year long, and this isn’t the first time cops have been called. I was definitely surprised about what happened, but the fact that cops showed up to a party, not really.”

Isaiah Ramos, 21, was arrested in connection to the shooting. He’s charged with murder and criminal recklessness.

According to Bloomington Police Department, Ramos and two other people were denied entry into a house party because one of them had a visible handgun in their waistband. That sparked an argument that turned physical. Witnesses told police Ramos opened fired into a crowd. The gunshots killed Bridgwaters and hurt one other person.