Young woman killed in Bloomington, Ill., Halloween party shooting was North Central College cheerleader

A total of nine victims have been identified in a mass shooting at a Halloween party in Bloomington, ILlast weekend, including a student and cheerleader at North Central College in Naperville who was killed.

Police were called at 1:21 a.m. Sunday to a shooting at a Halloween party in a shared courtyard behind rental properties in the 100 block of East Division Street.

The shooting happened near the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University. Illinois State University is also located nearby.

A police officer responding to something nearby heard 10 gunshots and came immediately to find that a man had been shot in the arm. Three other injured victims were found in the yard, according to Bloomington Police Chief Jamal Simington.

Other officers from the Bloomington Police Department and Illinois State Police responded and began emergency medical care, such as CPR, applying tourniquets and treating bleeding wounds, until paramedics arrived, Simington said.

Giana Dettloff, 19, of Carol Stream, was killed in the shooting. She died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and pelvic area, according to McLean County Coroner Dr. Kathleen Yoder.

North Central friends and teammates were seen carrying flowers throughout campus Monday. A social media post from the university’s cheerleading team said: “She was an amazing friend, teammate and pure soul.”

Detloff worked at Franky’s Red Hots at its two locations in Addison and St. Charles. Her boss, Vincenzo Spano, said he always looked forward to working with her and that she was supposed to work Monday evening.

“This should never have happened to her. She was like the most alive and beautiful person. Me, my mom, my dad and my sister always talk about it. Gianna was life – she always loved life,” he said.

Detloff was a graduate of Glenbard North High School and a freshman and cheerleader at North Central College in Naperville. She was visiting a friend in Bloomington.

She was remembered by her former principal at Glenbard North, John Mensik, who said she was really nice.

“Gianna was a wonderful student, but more importantly, she was an amazing person…she was really kind. She had a way of making everyone she met feel important.”

“According to her parents, she was their only child. She was described as full of life, a sweet girl with a very bright future and an athlete who was visiting one of her best friends at her local university,” Simington said.

The surviving victims ranged in age from 16 to 22 and included high school and college students as well as one non-student, Simington said. Police initially said there were seven surviving victims, but an eighth was later discovered.

They included:

• A 19-year-old man from Plano, Illinois who attended Illinois Wesleyan University. He suffered a gunshot wound to the right forearm and was stabilized.
• An 18-year-old woman from Carol Stream who suffered a leg injury and was stabilized and upgraded from critical to stable.
• A 19-year-old Grant Park woman who attended Illinois State University has been stabilized after suffering a gunshot wound to the ankle.
• A 19-year-old woman from Hoffman Estates, Illinois, who was treated and released the morning of the shooting. Police learned she had been injured after hearing about the others. She was shot in the ankle.
• A 19-year-old woman from Woodridge, Illinois who attended Quincy University. She was shot in the arm, chest and abdomen and her condition was upgraded from critical to stable.
• A 22-year-old Bloomington man suffered gunshot wounds to the arm and abdomen and was stabilized.
• An 18-year-old Carol Stream woman who attended Glenbard North High School was shot in the leg and stabilized.
• A 16-year-old girl who attended Bloomington High School was shot in the arm. She was treated and released.

All of the victims had no prior connection to each other, Yoder said.

Since it was Halloween night from Saturday night into Sunday morning, additional police units were already on site to ensure visibility, prevent drunk driving and ensure peaceful celebrations, Simington said.

Simington himself was among the officers patrolling the area near the shooting before it occurred.

“This party was visibly peaceful, jovial, and no disturbances were observed or reported prior to the shooting,” Simington said. “There was no indication or warning that a shooting was going to occur.”

After the shooting, detectives worked all day Sunday to investigate. McLean County State’s Attorney and Coroner’s Offices; Illinois State Police, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the FBI are involved.

Counseling and support services were made available at North Central College and Glenbard North.

As of midday Monday, no one was in custody during the shooting.

There was also a mass shooting the same night in another college town called Bloomington, about 200 miles away. Police said early Sunday morning officers heard several gunshots among a large crowd near Kirkwood Avenue and Dunn Street, near Indiana University. Bloomington, Indiana, and I found out that seven people had been shot.

Police said they did not know the extent of the victims’ injuries in the Indiana shooting, but their ages ranged from 17 to 27 years old. Police said they arrested one person, but did not confirm whether they believed that person was the one who fired the shots.