4 injured in 3 Cedar Rapids shootings

CEDAR RAPIDS - Four people were injured during three overnight shootings.

Fewer than 10 days into the new year, the shootings bring the number of gunfire incidents in the city to five.

Cedar Rapids public safety spokesman Greg Buelow said officers responded to a shots fired call at 7:21 p.m. Friday in the 1500 block of Fifth Avenue SE. There, officers found evidence of gunplay. A 34-year-old man went to the hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

Around 1:17 a.m. Saturday, police responded to a report of shots fired near A Avenue and 18th Street NE. Officers found shell casings in the Wells Fargo parking lot. Later, two men - ages 22 and 26 - showed up at a hospital with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.

Buelow said while officers were still on the scene at Wells Fargo, a 29-year-old man was admitted to a hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound about 1:43 a.m.

That shooting appears to have occurred in the 900 block of Maplewood Drive NE. Police executed a search warrant at 916 Maplewood Drive in connection with that shooting.

All three shootings remain under investigation and no arrests had been by Saturday afternoon, Buelow said.

On Thursday, 31-year-old Derek Bekeris was arrested on an attempted murder charge after police say he fired six shots at his roommate at 1509 Seventh Ave. SE. Police also responded to the 1400 block of Second Avenue SE around 9 p.m. Wednesday for a report of shots fired. Several shell casings were found at the scene.

Last year there were 100 confirmed shots fired or gunfire incidents in Cedar Rapids.