Indiana high school football player dies while shielding others during Harvest Homecoming Festival shooting between rival factions

Corydon Central High School senior Bryce Gerlach died Saturday when he shielded his friends from gunfire while attending the Harvest Homecoming Festival in New Albany, Indiana Saturday night. He is being celebrated and remembered as a hero, the New York Post reported.

Gerlach, 18, was one of three people who were shot when a fight between at least two different groups turned nasty, according to WAVE. “It was very selfless what he did, and I’m thankful he went out in such a heroic way so that’s how people remember him because that’s what he was he was a hero,” Gerlach’s close friend Tanner Chumly told the outlet.

Police say “multiple shooters” began firing from different locations at the festival and their bullets randomly hit people in the crowd. “Our initial belief is that all the persons who were shot in the incident were completely unrelated to the dispute that led to it,” New Albany Police Chief Todd Bailey said at a press conference Sunday morning.

Bailey described the suspects in the case as black males in their early 20s but said there have been no arrests yet made. “The reckless nature of what they did would lead any reasonable person to say ‘Yes, these are dangerous individuals,'” Bailey said.

New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan lamented the gun violence that killed Gerlach. “We’ve 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,” Gahan said. “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.”

Brendan Hagan and a 42-year-old woman were also injured in the shooting. Hagan saw the trouble coming when he sighted a bunch of teenagers coming to blows in the parking lot. The 22-year-old started to get away from the dispute when the bullets began flying. “I heard gunshots ringing off,” Hagan told WAVE from the hospital. “It was either the first or second one that hit me right in my leg. That’s 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.”

Gerchan was supposed to play his final home football game this Friday as he and his father continued to look at potential colleges where he could continue his education and football. “His father told me they were meeting this week to talk to recruiters about where to play at the college level,” South Harrison Community School Corporation Superintendent Mark Eastridge told WDRB.

“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.” Eastridge told WAVE.