Waterloo: Small town, big crimes

WATERLOO, Ind. (WANE)--Most people probably think of it as a quiet town in Dekalb County, but that hasn't been the case on several occasions. Thursday's shootings in Waterloo weren't the first time the town has faced some dangerous events.

It’s still unusual for an officer to be shot anywhere in the area. But Waterloo definitely has some skeletons in its closet.

“It just seems like they all end up in Waterloo. It's kind of strange,” said Aaron Fike, Waterloo deputy marshal. “Over the last three to four years, it seems like the crimes have been getting more major in this area of Dekalb County and Waterloo.”

• Thanksgiving weekend, 1994 -- Three people were murdered inside their Waterloo home. After that a shocking statistic came out.

“Per capita, Waterloo had the highest death rate because of the small population that we have,” Fike said.

The small town hasn't been so quiet recently either:

• May, 2009 -- A man was shot to death inside the Walker-Rowe Airport.
• January, 2010 -- After he killed his girlfriend, Ronnie Jones ran his vehicle into the home of his ex-wife just outside of Waterloo and started a shootout with her boyfriend.
• March, 2010 -- Wayne King held his wife hostage during a standoff in Waterloo.
King was shot to death by police.

“You've got to remember there are two major highways that run through this town. You've got U.S. 6 … and we’ve got the interstate,” Fike said. “It brings a lot of traffic into this small community. So we think that has a lot to do with it too.”

Waterloo deputies don't know exactly why all these crimes have happened in their community, and in the end, chalk it up to the luck of the draw.

“It was more of a coincidence,” Fike said. “Bad timing, we've had a lot of events in the past two to three years. It seems like a lot in this small community. I believe it can happen anywhere. It just so happened to happen in the same area.”

Deputies say they're going to be more proactive on the streets of Waterloo. As for people living there, officials say they're more concerned about the condition of Stephen Brady, the deputy shot Thursday, than safety in the small town.

At last check, Brady was still recovering and in serious condition.