A 46-year-old man who shot and killed two police officers in an ambush-style attack is officially in custody.
The suspect has been identified as Scott Michael Greene, an Urbandale, Iowa resident. The Dallas County Sheriff’s Department and Iowa State Patrol caught Greene early Wednesday morning after a statewide manhunt went into effect. Greene was caught about seven hours after the shootings took place.
According to
ABC News, Greene “was wanted in connection to separate shootings that left two police officers dead in the Des Moines area.”
Source: Des Moines Police Department
Around 1 a.m., officers responded to shots fired near Urbandale, close to Des Moines. During the response, they found an Urbandale officer who had been shot and killed alone in his police vehicle. Police also discovered another officer who was shot at an intersection of the city. He was quickly transported to a hospital where he later died, police said.
“In all appearances it looks just like that, the officers were ambushed,” Sgt. Paul Parizek of the Des Moines Police Department said during a press conference. “On the surface right now, like I said, we are just a few hours into this. It doesn’t look like there was any interaction between these officers and whoever the coward is who shot them while they sat in their cars.”
Parizek urged others to stay safe in the area, especially the police officers.
“There is clearly danger if you are a police officer. These guys were gunned down, sitting in their car, doing nothing wrong,” he explained. “So there is definitely some danger out there, there is someone out there shooting police officers. We hope we find him before anyone else gets hurt. We definitely don’t want anyone in the public or in the community to get hurt, but there is a clear and present danger to police officers right now.”
While the police continue their investigation into the crime, they have doubled their officers on duty.
“We are very well aware that the society that we are living in right now and the time, there are some not so positive views of law enforcement that a certain segment of our population holds. So we are as vigilant as we can be and still provide the service we need to provide,” said Parizek.
Greene has had several run-ins with the law before. He was recently kicked out of a sporting event after he raised a Confederate Flag during the National Anthem. Greene, whose daughter has called him mentally ill, has also been connected to the police after he threatened to kill a man in his apartment complex.
“The slain officers have been identified as Urbandale Police Officer Justin Martin and Des Moines Sergeant Anthony ‘Tony’ Beminio,” reported
Heavy.
“Although the investigation is still unfolding, what appears to be an ambush attack of police in the line of duty is an attack on the community at large and all of the men and women who risk their lives every day to protect us,” United States Sen. Joni Ernst said in a statement. “This was a senseless act of violence and it cannot be tolerated.”
