BPD’s Wheeler speaks out on officers’ stress, pain of grieving families

Posted on June 29, 2018

Recently appointed Bloomington Police Chief Clay Wheeler is leading a department investigating a pair of shootings in June that killed five people and wounded three others, including a four-year old boy. (Bloomington Police Department)

By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – A pair of shootings that left five people dead and three others wounded over an eight day period has taken its toll on Bloomington Police, but the department’s new chief said the stress his officers have experienced is nothing compared to the suffering of grieving family members and friends.

“Our hearts go out to the family and the friends because what we go through is nothing compared to their loss,” said Clay Wheeler, who became chief May 15.

“It feels kind of wrong to stand up here too much and talk about what we went through because it’s nothing compared to what they have.”

Wheeler expressed pride in officers who’ve dealt with grieving relatives and coped with grisly murder scenes even though they’re trained to deal with that.

“The patrolmen working long and hard protecting crime scenes in tremendous heat, working many hours. We’ve had to hire back quite a bit of overtime to staff different things that have come on just to ensure public safety,” Wheeler added.

Police have arrested a man for allegedly shooting to death two people and wounding two others at a party on Orchard Road on June 10. They have yet to make an arrest for the June 18 shooting on Riley Drive that killed three people and seriously wounded a four year old boy.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected].

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