Indiana High School Football Star Bryce Gerlach, 18, Killed While Shielding Others During Festival Shooting

An 18-year-old high school football star is being posthumously hailed a hero for shielding others from gunfire that erupted at a fall festival in Indiana.

Corydon Central High School senior Bryce Gerlach was fatally shot when at least two different groups got into an argument that turned violent at the Harvest Homecoming Festival in New Albany, Ind. Saturday night.

Gerlach, one of three bystanders struck during the shooting, is believed to have shielded others in his group from the hail of bullets, 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.

The shooting began just before 10 p.m. Saturday near State Street and Black Avenue where the rides for the festival were set up, less than a block from the Ohio River and the Indiana-Kentucky border.

Police say there were likely “multiple shooters” firing from different directions before striking innocent bystanders.

“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 identified the persons of interest as Black males in their teens and early 20s, but no arrests have been made in the shooting.

3 shot, 1 killed at Harvest Homecoming Festival in New Albany, IN.

Police say a Black male with dreadlocks and a red hoodie killed Bryce Gerlach, 18, and wounded two others.

Police say Gerlach was an unintended bystander. pic.twitter.com/PHYwz2kRdO

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The suspects, who fled the scene, were described as a danger to the public.

“The reckless nature of what they did would lead any reasonable person to say ‘Yes, these are dangerous individuals,’” Bailey said.

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