Lewis James May of Bloomington arrested after Kirkwood Avenue shooting investigation

Lewis James May booking photo from MCSO

Editor’s note: Bloomington police initially said in a press release after the shooting that investigators reviewed cellphone video and surveillance footage from nearby businesses and believed multiple people appeared to draw handguns during a fight near Five Guys on Kirkwood Avenue. Police said at the time that they believed two separate people fired weapons before the crowd scattered and officers rushed in to search for victims. However, the probable cause affidavit filed in the case focuses on one alleged shooter, Lewis James May. In the affidavit, Detective Chris Scott wrote that surveillance video showed May enter the frame with what appeared to be a semiautomatic firearm, wave it toward the crowd and discharge the gun into the sidewalk. The affidavit does not charge May as one of two shooters; it alleges his actions caused bullet-fragment injuries to two people.

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Staff report

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — May 6, 2026

A Bloomington man was arrested Tuesday in connection with an April 26 shooting on Kirkwood Avenue during Little 500 weekend that injured two people with bullet fragments, according to court records and booking information.

Lewis James May, 18, of Bloomington, was arrested at 5:41 p.m. May 5, 2026, at Taco Bell North, according to booking information. May was booked into the Monroe County Jail at 6:18 p.m. on charges of pointing a firearm at another person, a Level 6 felony; criminal recklessness, a Level 5 felony; and battery, a Level 5 felony.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Bloomington Police Department Detective Chris Scott, officers responded about 12:30 a.m. April 26 to the area of Kirkwood Avenue and Grant Street after reports that multiple people had been struck by gunfire. Scott wrote that one female victim appeared to have a possible gunshot wound beneath her right armpit before being taken to the hospital.

Investigators later determined the initial incident appeared to have started near Kirkwood Avenue and Dunn Street. Officers found one spent shell casing in front of Five Guys and two unfired rounds in front of Village Deli, according to the affidavit.

Scott wrote that surveillance and cellphone video showed two females fighting in front of Five Guys before several males associated with the groups began fighting. During the altercation, a male entered the frame holding what appeared to be a semiautomatic firearm and began waving it toward the crowd, according to the affidavit.

“As the individual confronts one of the females, the firearm discharges, striking the sidewalk,” Scott wrote in the affidavit. The crowd then scattered, and the male left the area with the firearm, according to police.

Bloomington police posted still images of the suspect on social media April 30. Within about an hour, the suspect was identified as May, according to the affidavit. One tip included a photo of May working at Taco Bell on April 29 while wearing the same necklace seen in the Kirkwood Avenue video, police said.

Scott wrote that several people who worked with May at Taco Bell identified him as the person in the video. Police also compared the video with May’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles photograph and determined it matched the person seen discharging the firearm, according to the affidavit.

Two people were injured by bullet fragments when the gun was fired into the crowd, according to the affidavit. Both were treated at IU Health Bloomington Hospital, and their injuries were described as non-life-threatening.

Court records show the probable cause affidavit sought an arrest warrant for two counts of battery with a deadly weapon, two counts of criminal recklessness and one count of pointing a firearm. Booking information lists three charges: pointing a firearm, criminal recklessness and battery.

The case was filed May 1 in Monroe County Circuit Court. May is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

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