Iowa authorities investigate murder of 19-year-old in Taylor County bar

CLEARFIELD, Iowa (WOWT) – Authorities in Taylor County, Iowa, are investigating after a 19-year-old man was shot and killed early Thursday morning.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations reports that Taylor County dispatch received multiple calls about shootings around 3:20 a.m. Officers rushed to the Bootleggers Bar and Grill on Broadway Street in the city of Clearfield. A male victim was found unconscious on the ground with an apparent gunshot wound to the head.

The deputy reporting the case claims in an affidavit that he saw a man, later identified as the suspect, standing next to an SUV near the victim’s body. He allegedly admitted to being the shooter; the deputy arrested him and took him to the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office. Along with several witnesses at the scene who told deputies they saw the suspect shoot and kill the victim, he admitted to a DCI agent that he killed 19-year-old Colby Nelson of Lenox. It was revealed that the two men had a disagreement at the bar earlier that evening that escalated into an argument as the shooter attempted to leave.

The suspect, identified as Alan Schultz, 37, of Bedford, left the bar on his motorcycle and returned in another vehicle with a loaded handgun. Schultz then allegedly confronted Nelson twice before shooting him in the face, discharging his handgun and waiting for officers to arrive. He was booked into the Taylor County Jail on suspicion of first-degree murder.

A forensic autopsy will be performed on Nelson’s body by the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny.

The investigation is ongoing and the Iowa DCI does not plan to release any further information at this time.

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