I N D I A N A D A I LY S T U D E N T | W E D N E S D AY, F E B . 2 4 , 2 0 1 6 | I D S N E W S . C O M
Woman reports sexual assault
Saddened, not shocked
From IDS reports
A 21-year-old woman reported a sexual assault Monday that allegedly took place after a party Friday in the northeast part of Bloomington. The woman is taking steps to pursue a criminal investigation through the Bloomington Police Department, BPD Sgt. George Connolly said. The case remains active. Capt. Steve Kellams said he has reason to believe the people involved in the sexual assault were IU students. The woman told police she had invited a group of friends over to her house on Friday night, beginning at about 7:30 p.m. The friends were playing a drinking game that involved removing clothing when a player lost, Connolly said. The woman became extremely drunk and went upstairs to a bedroom and was followed by one of the male guests, who was about the same age as her. They curled up in bed, and he began touching her, Connolly said. She didn’t immediately object because of her intoxication level, Connolly said. “She feels she was too drunk to have said no,” Connolly said. She objected soon after, and the man left the room, went downstairs and slept on the couch for the rest of the night. The woman reported the sexual assault to the BPD at about 4:30 p.m. Monday.
IDS PHOTOS BY HANNAH ALANI | IDS
Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers holds a .38-caliber revolver with a child protection lock, the same type of weapon used by a 6-year-old boy who accidently shot his father Sunday in Bartholomew County.
An Indiana boy accidentally shot and killed his father with a .38-caliber revolver. The county sheriff emphasized safety in the wake of the tragedy. By Hannah Alani halani@indiana.edu | @hannahalani
HARTSVILLE, IND. — A 6-year-old boy playing in a house littered with toy guns accidentally picked up a loaded .38-caliber revolver and shot and killed his father. Moments later, neighbors saw the child running and screaming barefoot in the front yard. “I didn’t mean to!” he said. “I’m sorry! It was an accident!” Neighbor Tracee Heslop, seeing the distraught boy, brought over a blanket and wrapped him in her arms. She didn’t know what else to do, so she prayed. “Your daddy’s going to be OK,” Heslop told him. He was sobbing when sheriff ’s deputies and paramedics arrived around 9:15 p.m. He wrapped his arms around their legs, trying to hug them. “I didn’t know,” he told them. “I’m sorry.” James Lonaker, 62, was sitting at his desk Sunday night and did not see his son pick up the handgun, which was lying on either a table or a mini refrigerator in the same room, according to the Bartholomew County Sheriff ’s Department. Authorities did not release the boy’s first name. The boy’s mother was in the house in Hartsville, Indiana, which is about an hour east of Bloomington, with her 1-year-old
son when she heard a “pop.” Lonaker, shot once in the upper chest, spoke to family and neighbors who rushed to help him. He was alert enough that they thought he would survive as emergency workers loaded him into a medical helicopter. But he died en route to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers said he has heard too many cases of children picking up a loaded gun and accidentally shooting themselves or others. The story is getting old, he said. “This tragedy has been told again and again,” Myers said. “Please keep your guns in a secure location.” Spare gun locks, issued by the federal government to promote gun safety, sit in Myers’ office. In an interview with the Indiana Daily Student, he used his own .38-caliber revolver to demonstrate how easy it is to wrap the thick wire of the gun lock through the opened cylinder. Downstairs by the front desk, there is a box of gun locks. They are free, but the box is nearly full. Not enough people are picking them up, Myers said. “It’s sad to say, but I’m surprised we don’t have more of this,” Myers said Gun safety education has been a priority in his county. In 2015, 521 gun permits were
Samantha Schmidt
Free gun locks designed to prevent children from accidently firing weapons are displayed in the Bartholomew County Sheriff ’s Department.
Indie band harnesses narratives in music
“We as adults have to practice proper storage. It’s easy to set a gun down and forget about it. Those are costly mistakes.” Matt Myers, Bartholomew County Sheriff
issued in Bartholomew County. The number of gun permits issued has risen dramatically during the past few years. People are carrying guns more now than ever before, Myers said. An increase in national mass shootings and anticipation of tighter gun reform may be why so many more people are buying and registering guns, Myers said. The sheriff said he hopes gun
owners take Lonaker’s tragedy to heart. “We as adults have to practice proper storage,” Myers said. “It’s easy to set a gun down and forget about it. Those are costly mistakes.” When the deputies walked inside the yellow house on Clinton Street, they noticed the toy guns lying around the room.
By Jack Evans jackevan@indiana.edu | @JackHEvans
SEE GUNS, PAGE 9
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Hoosiers travel with postseason implications eebailey@indiana.edu | @TheTeddyBailey
IU (18-10) at Nebraska (17-10, 8-8) 7 p.m. Lincoln, Nebraska
With two games remaining in the regular season, IU (18-10, 10-6) sits in prime position to lock up one of the four double-byes guaranteeing a spot in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. The Hoosiers, tied for fourth in the conference, were projected as a 10seed in this week’s ESPN bracketology for the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Before playing at home with No. 11 Penn State to finish the season, IU will face Nebraska (17-10, 8-8) at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Lincoln, Nebraska. The last time the two teams played, almost three weeks ago, the Hoosier defense stifled the Huskers 59-47 at Assembly Hall. A big reason why IU was able to hold Nebraska at less than 50 points was the Hoosiers’ game plan against star freshman Jessica Shephard. At 6-foot-4, Shephard is the frontrunner for Big Ten freshman of the year. The Nebraska native averages 19.9 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. On Feb. 8, IU Coach Teri Moren primarily chose junior center Jenn Anderson to defend Shephard. Anderson frustrated Shephard with 11 turnovers and four fouls. Though Shephard still finished with 18 points
and 13 rebounds, it wasn’t enough for Nebraska to threaten IU’s lead. “Shephard is a tremendous post player in this league,” Moren said after the first meeting. “I thought Jenn Anderson did a really great job of making her uncomfortable. She had 18, but it was a well-earned 18 because of Jenn’s focus to keep her at bay and off-balanced.” Since its first meeting with IU when it stood at 7-4 in the Big Ten season, Nebraska has lost three of its last four games. Three of those games were played against teams in the Big Ten’s top four. Shephard scored a game-high 26 points in a 73-66 upset against No. 17 Michigan State last Sunday. Nebraska most recently lost to Purdue at home Sunday, 68-50. IU, meanwhile, looks for its third Big Ten road win of the season. After snapping its 1-36 mark in Big Ten road games against Northwestern earlier this year, IU has only defeated last-place Illinois away from Assembly Hall.
By Teddy Bailey
SEE IUWBB, PAGE 9
NOBLE GUYON | IDS
Sophomore guard Tyra Buss leaps toward the basket against Illinois. Buss scored 21 points against the Fighting Illini, leading the team to a 80-68 victory Feb. 10 at the State Farm Center.
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Frances Quinlan doesn’t need to know what the characters are thinking. The vocalist of Philadelphia indie rock band Hop Along, which will play Wednesday night at the Bishop, often writes narrative songs. Quinlan said her songwriting has been influenced by writers who spent little time vocalizing their characters’ thoughts, who show rather than tell. That includes authors like Ernest Hemingway, whom she finds alternately problematic and admirable, Flannery O’Connor and Cormac McCarthy. “I wanted to be a short story writer when I was growing up, so that definitely comes through,” she said. Hop Along’s second record, “Painted Shut,” came out in May, but Quinlan has been writing songs for the project since it started as a solo endeavor in 2004. Some of the songs on “Painted Shut” see Quinlan drawing from history. On “Buddy in the Parade” and “Horseshoe Crabs,” she chronicles the ill-fated lives of musicians Buddy Bolden and Jackson C. Frank, respectively. Elsewhere, she’s a passive character in her own stories, as she witnesses child abuse in “Powerful Man” and dodges an unwanted customer in “Waitress.” “That’s where a lot of personal humiliation comes from — that feeling of being a bystander in your own life,” she said. “I don’t mean to address humiliation so much. It’s just a part of what enriches experience.”
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SEE HOP ALONG, PAGE 9