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)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Work on the presidential inauguration platform began Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol with congressional leaders pounding the first ceremonial nails into a stage they cast as a symbol of America's commitment to the peaceful transfer of power — a tradition that was almost upended in 2021 when Donald Trump's supporters violently stormed the Capitol.
As Republican and Democratic leaders gathered in a moment of bipartisanship with Washington’s National Mall spread before them, no direct mention was made of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack where Trump’s supporters used pipes, lumber and other materials from the inauguration stage to attack law enforcement and halt the certification of the election.
But memories of that day, and heightened worries about violence in this year's tense election season after the latest apparent assassination attempt against Trump, shadowed the event.
“These workers will literally set the stage for the peaceful transfer of power,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota Democrat who chairs the joint committee overseeing preparations for the inauguration.
Preparations for the last inauguration became an integral part of the violence that unfolded at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with rioters swarming the stage and the tall press platform that stands in front of it during their siege of the building.
Workers who were putting finishing touches on the structure had to flee that morning as rioters closed in. They later had to clean up the debris and rebuild parts of the stage for President Joe Biden's inauguration two weeks later.
Klobuchar, flanked by construction workers in hard hats and reflective vests, cast the presidential inauguration next year as an opportunity to “celebrate our democracy and the sacred values that tie us together as a nation.”
Earlier Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican who is also on the committee, took aim at Democrats for describing Trump as a threat to democracy, but also called on “everybody” to scale back their attacks.
“Let’s have a vigorous debate on the policy differences, on the records, but let’s turn the rhetoric down because we’re not going to be able to sustain that,” Johnson, R-La., said.
Adding to the symbolism, the six congressional leaders noted the event also coincided with the anniversary of George Washington laying the cornerstone of the Capitol.
Lawmakers hammered a handful of the roughly 500,000 nails that will hold the stage together. House Republican Leader Steve Scalise took to the task eagerly, using his left hand to finish ahead of his colleagues, while Klobuchar finished the ceremony with gusto, banging her hammer with a smile and a laugh.
When finished for the Jan. 20 ceremony, the platform will hold nearly 1,600 people — the president and vice president-elect, past presidents, foreign dignitaries, Supreme Court justices and congressional leaders — to mark the beginning of a new administration.
Above the ceremony, five American flags will fly. One will be the current flag, two have 13 stars for the original colonies, and two hold the number of stars as when the president's home state was admitted to the union.
There will either be a 31-star flag for Vice President Kamala Harris's California or a 27-star flag for Trump's Florida. And the next president will either be the first Black woman and the first South Asian American to serve as president or just the second to succeed in a comeback bid to the White House.
Associated Press photographer J. Scott Applewhite contributed to this report.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., poses for a photo to the First Nail Ceremony marking the beginning of construction of the 2025 Presidential Inauguration platform, on the steps of the Capitol, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Tyler Smith, a woodcrafter with the Architect of the Capitol, and Herbert Melgar, a painter, measure out the nail placement for Congress members to hammer for the First Nail Ceremony marking the beginning of construction of the 2025 Presidential Inauguration platform at the Capitol, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Congress members hammer in the first nails at the First Nail Ceremony marking the beginning of construction of the 2025 Presidential Inauguration platform on the steps of the Capitol, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., right and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., are seen after the First Nail Ceremony marking the beginning of construction of the 2025 Presidential Inauguration platform, on the steps of the Capitol, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Congress members hammer in the first nails at the First Nail Ceremony marking the beginning of construction of the 2025 Presidential Inauguration platform on the steps of the Capitol, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
From left, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., arrive to the First Nail Ceremony marking the beginning of construction of the 2025 Presidential Inauguration platform, on the steps of the Capitol, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
