Police arrest 3 in Peoples Park

Three suspects were arrested at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Peoples Park after the Bloomington Police Department responded to a call about a robbery.

All three were later released and no charges were filed, according to BPD reports.

A person was offering to sell a phone to those at Peoples Park. Upon leaving, he was approached in an alley by a suspect who flashed a knife and robbed him of his phone and wallet, BPD Sgt. Jeff Canada said.

Some witnesses at Peoples Park said they felt BPD was simultaneously operating a drug sting. It was unclear who was arrested for what.

Police searched through garbage cans in the park vicinity, and people who were in the park reported being searched by police.

Earlier that day, a man on a bike was cycling around Peoples Park, asking people to sell him marijuana and to purchase marijuana from him, a witness said.

“It just doesn’t add up right,” the witness said. “Why would you be trying to buy and sell drugs simultaneously?”

He added that he felt it was obvious that he was a cop.

The five squad cars and six police officers that responded to Peoples Park also supported the idea that some kind of sting operation was taking place.