DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A shootout early Monday left two Iowa police officers hospitalized and a suspect dead, Des Moines police said.
The encounter began around 1:40 a.m. when patrol officers stopped a 37-year-old driver for an equipment violation, police said. The driver pulled over in a parking lot but sped away as officers exited their patrol vehicles, police Sgt. Paul Parizek said in a news release.
The driver crashed about 20 seconds later, and officers blocked his 2005 Ford Focus from driving away, Parizek said. When the driver refused to cooperate, officers used a Taser on him, then tried to remove him from the car, leading to a violent struggle, Parizek said.
During the struggle, the man pulled out a handgun and began shooting at officers, Parizek said. Three offers returned fire, killing the man.
Two officers were shot and rushed to a hospital. Parizek said one officer was shot in the head, the other in an arm. The officer shot in the head underwent surgery and was in critical condition but stable. Parizek said both are expected to survive.
Both injured officers joined the department in 2022, Parizek said.
Des Moines police and the Iowa Department of Public Safety are investigating.
The scene where two Des Moines police officers were shot and the suspected shooter was killed by officers in an exchange of gunfire in Des Moines, Iowa, early Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Cody Scanlan/The Des Moines Register via AP)
Crime scene investigators work at the scene where two Des Moines police officers were shot and the suspected shooter was killed by officers in an exchange of gunfire in Des Moines, Iowa, early Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Cody Scanlan/The Des Moines Register via AP)
MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Germany on Saturday was still in shock and struggling to understand the suspect behind the attack in the city of Magdeburg.
Identified by local media as 50-year-old Taleb A., a psychiatry and psychotherapy specialist, authorities said he has been living in Germany for two decades. He was arrested on site after plowing a black BMW into a Christmas market crowded with holiday shoppers Friday evening, killing at least five people and wounding about 200 others.
Prominent German terrorism expert Peter Neumann posted on X that he had yet to come across a suspect in an act of mass violence with that profile.
Taleb’s X account is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith. He also described himself as a former Muslim.
He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the “Islamism of Europe.”
He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Some described Taleb as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. Recently, he seemed focused on his theory that German authorities have been targeting Saudi asylum seekers.
Neumann, the terrorism expert, wrote: “After 25 years in this ‘business’ you think nothing could surprise you anymore. But a 50-year-old Saudi ex-Muslim who lives in East Germany, loves the AfD and wants to punish Germany for its tolerance towards Islamists — that really wasn’t on my radar."
On Saturday, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters: “At this point, we can only say for sure that the perpetrator was evidently Islamophobic – we can confirm that. Everything else is a matter for further investigation and we have to wait.”
A German-based organization called Athiest Refugee Relief said the alleged attacker was not a part of the group and claimed that he made “numerous accusations and claims” against it and former board members, which it said were false.
“We distance ourselves from him in the strongest terms," the group said in a statement on its website, adding that members of Atheist Refugee Relief filed a criminal complaint against him in 2019 following “the most foul slander and verbal attacks."
An image taken from a video shows police officers arresting a suspect after car drove into a crowd at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (TNN/DPA via AP)
A person stands by flowers and candles placed outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
