Normal Chief Rick Bleichner and Illinois State University Chief Aaron Woodruff were expected to speak, but did not take the podium.

After the rally, several hundred people walked north on East Street to Locust, then up Center to Madison street, chanting slogans, holding signs and encouraging motorists to honk in support. Police cars followed the group to provide a barrier from vehicles.

Nala Buchanan of Bloomington held a sign asking for equality. "I’m waiting for change. Something has to happen and I feel like it’s time," she said. "We don’t want to stop until we get the justice we need for everyone."

It was when the group marched south on Madison, apparently to return to the Law and Justice Center lawn, that one of two motorcyclists at a stoplight drove through the group and then sped south on Madison.

"This is just horrible," Mayor Tari Renner said. "I went to the rally and everything seemed peaceful. And then something like this happens. I don’t know the details of what this person did, but it comes at a really bad time, clearly at the end of a rally that is trying to promote justice and healing and moving forward in a nonviolent way.

“That is what was stressed consistently in the pre-rally events in front of the McLean County history museum as well as at the rally itself,” Renner said.