Two Iowa police officers were shot dead early Wednesday morning in ambush-style attacks while they were sitting in their patrol cars. Authorities in Iowa have called for a manhunt to locate the suspect or suspects who carried out the murders.
At 1:06 a.m., Des Moines area police officers responded to a report of shots fired. They found an Urbandale Police Department officer shot to death in his squad car at an intersection. Then 20 minutes later they police discovered a Des Moines Police Department cop in his police cruiser who had also been shot dead in a different intersection just blocks away.
“There’s somebody out there shooting police officers. We hope to find him before somebody else gets hurt,” said Des Moines Sgt. Paul Parizek, who was fighting back tears during the press conference. “There is a clear and present danger to police officers right now.”
“On the surface right now … it doesn’t look like there was any interaction between these officers and whoever the coward is that shot them while they sat in their cars,” Parizek said. “In all appearances, it looks … that these officers were ambushed.”
Police are working to determine if there is one gunman or several. A witness described a pickup truck with a topper driving away from the murder scene.
The Des Moines police officer is believed to be the first from the city to be shot and killed on duty since two officers were gunned down in separate incidents in 1977.
[CNN]