Downtown Bloomington fight: 2 arrested on felony charges in beating of unhoused man

Two men have been arrested in connection with the severe beating of an unhoused Bloomington resident during a fight with as many as four other men last Friday (Sept 26) in downtown Bloomington.

The fight took place around 11:30 p.m. on the block of Kirkwood Avenue between Dunn Street and Grant Street. The corner of Grant and Kirkwood is the location of the former Cafe Pizzaria restaurant building.

According to a Tuesday news release issued by Bloomington Police Department (BPD), and a press briefing that day, Avery Williams (25) and Khalil Morris (21), both of Bloomington, were found on Monday, questioned, then arrested and booked into jail on a charge of battery resulting in serious bodily injury, which is a level 5 felony.

The man who was beaten during the fight was identified in the news release as Robert Ballard (60).

Ballard has at times used 620 S. Walnut Street—the address of Beacon’s day shelter, called the Shalom Community Center—as his mailing address. Mail is one of several services offered there.

When police officers arrived, they found Ballard bleeding from his mouth and with some of his teeth knocked out. According to the news release, Ballard “refused to cooperate with investigators, refused EMS services and advised responding officers that no fight had occurred.”

But later, on Monday (Sept. 29) afternoon, Ballard was willing to talk to officers, gave a statement about the fight, and said he wanted to pursue criminal charges against the men. Ballard’s account is that someone stole his cell phone while he was seated on a concrete wall on Kirkwood. Ballard got into an argument with a man he accused of stealing his phone. That led to the fight when Ballard was beaten.

According to BPD Capt. Ryan Pedigo, who gave Tuesday’s press briefing, the facts of the case in no way support the idea that a group of men was roaming the area looking for street homeless people to beat up.

Officers spoke with witnesses and reviewed cell phone video that had been taken of the fight. Two of the men involved were reportedly armed with handguns, but did not display them during the fight. Officers were not able to find the men. Pedigo indicated that another unhoused man got involved in the fight when he came to Ballard’s aid.

Later the same night, officers did find two other men at Five Guys on Kirkwood, who were believed to have been involved in the fight. Those two men were different from the two whose arrests were announced, according to Pedigo.

Officers spoke with the two men, but they were not detained, because at that point Ballard did not want to cooperate with the investigation and did not want to pursue charges against those who beat him.

According to the news release, the case is still under investigation and more arrests are possible.