ICPD officer shoots ‘armed suicide’ in incident currently under government investigation

An officer with the Iowa City Police Department shot a person Monday morning while responding to a report of an armed and possibly suicidal person.

“On Monday, July 15, 2024, at 8:41 a.m., Iowa City Police officers responded to a report of an armed suicidal individual in the 1100 block of Wylde Green Road,” a police department press release said. “During the incident, an Iowa City Police officer fired his weapon. One individual was injured and is currently hospitalized.”

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) is investigating the shooting. According to department policy, ICPD automatically turns over investigations of officer-involved shootings to the DCI. The results of the DCI investigation are forwarded to the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office. The district attorney is responsible for determining whether the shooting was justified.

“The officer will remain on paid administrative leave pending the investigation,” the ICPD said.

This is the first time in five years that an ICPD officer has shot someone. In July 2019, an officer shot a shoplifter after the shoplifter shot him multiple times with a pellet gun. Two months before this incident, two ICPD officers fired at a burglary suspect who was driving a truck and attempted to ram them. The suspect was struck by a bullet.

In both cases, the injured suspects were briefly hospitalized for their injuries. The DCI investigated both cases. Then-Johnson County Prosecutor Janet Lyness found both shootings justified.

Prior to May 2019, the last time an ICPD officer fired a weapon while on duty was in December 2011 while conducting a wellness check on a person who had been reported by relatives as being at risk of suicide.

When officers arrived at the man’s Summit Street home, they found him carrying a gun in his waistband. According to the incident report, officers tried to persuade the man to go to the hospital but shot him when he reached for the gun.

“One officer used less-lethal beanbag rounds on the man and another officer used a taser on him. A third officer fired a handgun at the man and prevented him from retrieving his weapon,” an ICPD press release said at the time.

The injured man was hospitalized and recovered. District Attorney Lyness ruled that the shooting was justified.

The ICPD’s only other shooting incident in recent years occurred in November 2014, when an officer cleaning his weapon accidentally shot himself and another officer standing nearby. Both officers were treated at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for “non-life-threatening” injuries, a department news release on the incident said.

In its press release on Monday’s shooting, the ICPD said: “No further information will be released until the investigation is complete.”