Two officers from the Iowa City Police Department fired their guns at a person reportedly holding a knife early Tuesday evening, striking and killing the subject. The incident occurred on the street in the 600 block of Southgate Avenue.
The officers arrived at the scene at “approximately 5:36 p.m.” in response to “a report of a subject armed with a knife threatening others,” according to a news release from the city.
“Officers observed the subject with the knife making threatening statements and gestures,” according to the news release.
“During the investigation, two uniformed Iowa City Police Department officers discharged their firearms at the armed subject. Following the shooting, officers rendered first aid and called for emergency services.”
The subject was transported by ambulance to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinic “for treatment of serious injuries and was later pronounced deceased.”
The city’s news release does not say how many shots were fired by the two officers, how many times the subject was hit or what led to the officers’ decision to shoot the person.
In accordance with ICPD policy, the two officers have been placed on administrative leave and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) is handling the investigation of the shooting. The Johnson County Attorney will review the results of the investigation to determine if the shooting was justified or if the officers involved should be charged.
This is the first time an ICPD officer has shot a person since July 2024, when an officer who was responding to a report of “an armed suicidal subject,” ended up shooting the person, after the man refused to comply with order to drop the gun he was holding even after being shot with “less than lethal” projectiles. The man was hospitalized and recovered. Following an investigation by DCI, the Johnson County Attorney determined that shooting was justified.
There were two incidents in 2019 in which ICPD officers shot suspects while responding to calls. In May of that year, two ICPD officers responded to a burglar alarm at a business and ended up pursuing the burglar to the parking lot of a neighboring business. The suspect got into a truck, began ramming other vehicles in the lot and endangering the officers. After unsuccessfully attempting to disable the suspect by using a Taser, the officers opened fire, wounding him. The subject was hospitalized for his wounds and recovered.
Two months later, an ICPD officer shot a shoplifting suspect after the suspect shot the officer multiple times with a BB gun. The suspect, a woman, was treated at UIHC and recovered.
In both cases, the DCI investigated and the Johnson County Attorney decided the shootings were justified after reviewing the report.
Prior to the two shootings in 2019, no ICPD officer had shot a person since 2011, when an officer conducting a wellness check on a man who was reported as suicidal shot the man after he reached for a gun. The wounded man recovered, and the Johnson County Attorney deemed the shooting justified.
The only other ICPD shooting incident in recent years that resulted in injuries happened in November 2014, when an officer cleaning his gun accidentally shot himself and another officer standing nearby. Both officers were treated for “non-life-threatening” injuries at UIHC, according to a departmental press release about the incident.
