At least 100 people, some armed with guns or baseball bats, converged on a low-income neighborhood Tuesday night, apparently to protest police handling of a teen-ager's death, authorities said. Shots were fired, and bottles and bricks were thrown, but no serious injuries were reported in this city of nearly 40,000 people on Lake Michigan, police said. ``We've had shots going off all night,'' said policeman Mike Elkins. `No shots have been fired by us. We're in full riot gear.'' About 20 people had been arrested by 10:30 p.m., three hours after the disturbance by at least 100 people began in a four-block section of the neighborhood. State and county police and state prison officers were dispatched to help city police control the crowd, Elkins said. ``I know there were problems up there last night,'' said LaPorte County sheriff's Sgt. Mark Ludlow. ``I don't think its fair to call it a riot, maybe a civil disturbance.'' There were minor injuries, but it was not immediately known how many people had been hurt, Ludlow said. The disturbance was apparently a protest of the death late Monday of Chris Crawford, 16, and the wounding of his cousin Michael Cain, 17. Cain, who was shot in the left side, said he and Crawford were standing near a video arcade when they were approached by an unknown man who fought with them. Cain said his cousin was forced into the street, then hit by a car and killed. Cain said he was shot as the vehicle passed. He was taken to Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and released. Residents of the neighborhood, which is near a housing project, said police were less responsive to crimes in their area than in more affluent neighborhoods. Police took more than an hour to reach the scene of Monday night's violence, said resident Vince Woodard. ``We called them on 911 and they didn't come,'' Woodard said. Elkins disputed allegations that police were slow to respond Monday. ``I'm sure in a case like that we were there right away,'' he said. The officer said police dispatchers received the call at 11:39 p.m. and arrived at the scene within a minute. ``We're only a couple of blocks away,'' Elkins said.
