COLUMBUS — Columbus police now say four people were shot at the basketball courts in Lincoln Park south of Hamilton Center at about 7:40 p.m. Tuesday night.
One victim was taken by Lifeline helicopter to an Indianapolis hospital while the other three were transported to Columbus Regional Hospital, said Lt. Matt Harris, Columbus Police Department spokesman.
There is no information available on their conditions, according to
Police were searching a roughly 50-yard oblong area encompassing the basketball courts searching for shell casings and other evidence.
Police are asking anyone with information to contact the department and tips may be made anonymously.
Two young men who were watching a game at the baseball diamonds say the game was interrupted when 5 shots rang out in rapid succession.
Gavin Edgecomb, Columbus, an IU student home from campus in Bloomington, and Simon Grooms, Columbus, were watching Grooms’ father play softball when they heard the shots.
They said at first they thought it might be fireworks, but when some of the 40 people watching the game began running, they believed it was gunfire.
The baseball diamonds are in front of the basketball courts, separated only by green fencing and a walkway leading to the Hamilton Center Ice Arena and 25th Street.
Both believe the shots were a drive-by shooting and said they saw three young men, believed to be in their 20s, shirtless, laying on the ground near the green fencing with other basketball players attempting to assist them. A fourth player was further away nearer to the batting cages.
One of the victims was shot in the ankle, one in the elbow, one in the leg, and the victim who was Lifelines was shot in the leg or the side, they said. There were two or three other basketball players who were not injured trying to help them, they said.
Hamilton Center was placed on lockdown and then evacuated, police said.
Columbus police remain a the scene.
Anyone with tips or information regarding the case should contact the Columbus Police Department at 812-376-2600.