Suspect dead, Des Moines officer hit by friendly fire after chase

DES MOINES, Iowa (WHO) — A Des Moines police officer who was shot during a private conversation and a chase early Tuesday morning is in serious but stable condition.

During a media update at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Des Moines police Sergeant Paul Parizek provided new information on the early morning shooting.

“He will recover, the second officer is at home. In the course of the investigation, which the DCI has taken over, we are now learning that the injured officer appears to have been struck by gunfire from the second officer and not the suspect. But there is still a lot of work to be done, that is what we are investigating right now,” Parizek said.

The suspect was in thick vegetation after driving his car off the road. The suspect exited the vehicle and ran, and Parizek said body camera video showed the suspect running, then stopped, turned toward officers and pulled out a handgun. The suspect had the gun pointed at his own head, but in a split second, he held the gun up with both arms and pointed it directly at the officers. That’s when officers fired their weapons, leaving the suspect dead at the scene.

“Incidents like this are very rare,” Parizek said. “…it’s a sad tragedy. It doesn’t change what those officers experienced in that moment, the threat that was against them, and what they were thinking and feeling. It certainly changes the impact of the trauma on them, but it doesn’t change the fact that they very bravely confronted an individual who had committed a crime and was posing as armed with the intent to harm them.”

Parizek described the scene in which the 37-year-old officer who was shot was standing to the left of the officer who accidentally shot him. According to police, body camera video shows the officer behind him putting space between the suspect and himself as he moves to the left, bringing the injured officer into view.

The bullet appears to have penetrated the injured officer’s right shoulder. Police said the injured officer believed the suspect had shot him.

“If you watch the video, the injured officer actually leans forward, turns around and says, ‘I’m hit, I was hit, shot in the chest,’ and then the officers started giving him first aid,” Parizek said.

The injured officer is in good spirits at the hospital and is already asking when he can return to work. The other officer is on leave as the DCI’s investigation is ongoing.

Regarding the suspect who violated the contact ban, police are gathering information.

“There’s some scary stuff, it looks like he lives in Nebraska. He may have had a relationship with this victim some time ago. She hadn’t heard from him in a very long time. He showed up at her door on Friday, she immediately went and requested a no contact order. It looks like he had an existing order with another person in Nebraska.”

Parizek said the car the suspect crashed was stolen.

“We know that the car he was driving was stolen in Council Bluffs a few days ago and the license plates that were attached to it were stolen locally here yesterday, I believe,” Parizek said. “So that suggests some premeditation.”

The name of the deceased male suspect will be released once family has been notified. The names of the officers involved will be released as the DCI continues the investigation.