VIDEO/TRANSCRIPT: Iowa DPS noon news conference on Ed Thomas murder investigation

Kevin Winker: Good afternoon. My name is Kevin Winker. I'm Assistant Director with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. First of all, I'd like to thank you all for coming. And secondly, I'd like to say, we're here today to provide some information in reference to the incident that occurred here in Parkersburg today.

Before we get to that, I'd like to make a few introductions. To my far right is Butler County Sheriff Jason Johnson. Next to him is Parkersburg Police Chief Chris Luhring. Next to him is Director John Quinn from the Division of Criminal Investigation. This is Special Agent in Charge Jeff Jacobson from the Division of Criminal Investigation. And this is Commissioner Gene Meyer from the Iowa Department of Public Safety.

At this time I'm going to have Special Agent in Charge Jeff Jacobsen read a brief statement to you. And following that, we will make, we will address some of your questions. But I want to just say early on that we aren't going to be able to answer all of your questions today. And things specific to the investigation there won't be a lot released today. But we will be able to provide you a little additional information.

From room: [inaudible] … spelling of [inaudible]?

Jeff Jacobson: Jacobson, J-a-c-o-b-s-o-n.

Good afternoon.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting death of Parkersburg High School football coach Ed Thomas. Around 7:47 a.m., on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009, a man walked into the Parkersburg High School weight room and shot Thomas multiple times. Ed Thomas, age 58, died a short time later at a Waterloo hospital. Mark Becker, age 24, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. He is currently being held in the Butler County jail. No students were injured and the school was placed on lockdown immediately following the shooting.

In addition to the Parkersburg Police Department, and the Butler County Sheriff's Department, several Division of Criminal Investigation agents and the DCI Crime Scene team responded to the scene as well as the Iowa State Patrol. The Department of Human Services has sent crisis counselors to talk with students and the family of Ed Thomas has requested privacy at this time and requests the media not contact them.

Thank you.

Kevin Winker: There's one other person I'd like to introduce. Off to my far left here is Superintendent Jon Thompson. So, at this time, if you have questions, we'll do our best to address those.

From room: Can you tell us a little bit [inaudible] who Mark Becker is?

Kevin Winker: Well that is certainly part of the investigation that we're involved in. I can tell you that he is a former student here and a former football player.

From room: Mr. Becker was arrested Saturday night after a high-speed chase that originated in Cedar Falls and ended here in Butler County. Can you talk about, he was admitted for a mental evaluation, I believe, and somehow was released. There was a [inaudible] release. Why was he released?

Kevin Winker: Well, I can tell you that Mr. Becker's entire past is being looked into as a part of this investigation. But the specific details about where he was at and what he was doing over the last week is not something I'm going to be able to address here today.

From room: [inaudible]

Kevin Winker: Yes, sir?

From room: [inaudible]

Kevin Winker: You know, I don't have that information. I don't know. Chief? No, I don't have that information right now.

From room: [inaudible] … inside the weight room where it happened. Who called authorities? What the players' reaction [inaudible] ?

Kevin Winker: Well, there were several people in there that witnessed this. Obviously we are talking to those individuals. Obviously it's not a good scene. A dramatic event occurred in front of a lot of people today, and obviously that something that's going to have to be dealt with now.

From room: [inaudible] players contact … authorities [inaudible]?

Kevin Winker: There was a 9-1-1 call placed shortly after the incident and the police responded at that point. I can't tell you exactly who made that phone call.

From room: Where was he arrested at?

Kevin Winker: He was arrested shortly after the shooting in rural Parkersburg.

From room: [inaudible] chase involved, or [inaudible] the arrest?

Kevin Winker: He was taken into custody at a residence in rural Parkersburg. He was cooperative at that time. And he was taken into custody without incident.

From room: [inaudible] what kind of a weapon was used?

Kevin Winker: It was a handgun.

From room: What caliber?

Kevin Winker: Again, I'm going to refrain from providing that right now.

From room: Can you tell us … [inaudible]?

Kevin Winker: I don't have the exact number. I've been told that it's in the area of 20. But I can't say whether for sure they were all football players or who they were.

From room: Do you have a motive? Or have you heard of a motive…?

Kevin Winker: Well, I mean motive is one of those issues that, obviously, we are looking into and, you know, I'm hoping that as the investigation goes on that motive will become more clear. But I'm not going to speculate at this time as to what motive is.

From room: Final question

From room: [inaudible] or did it appear that he was… [inaudible]?

Kevin Winker: The people that were present were not threatened in any way.

From room: [inaudible] have a brother that was also on the football team?

Kevin Winker: I don't have that information. OK, thank you very much.

From room: [inaudible] your name [inaudible]?

Kevin Winker: My name is Kevin Winker. It's W-i-n-k-e-r. And I am Assistant Director of the Division of Criminal Investigation.

[Kevin Winker leaves table, Superintendent Jon Thompson approaches microphones]

Jon Thompson: … If you don't mind. My name is Jon Thompson. I'm the superintendent of schools here at Aplington-Parkersburg. And I would rather not talk about the Becker boy or the incident this morning. I'd rather address Ed Thomas the man.

Very important to our community for a number of years. He started here in 1975. Mr. Thomas was a football coach. And I think around our state, maybe beyond our borders, he's known as a football coach. But to those of us locally it goes far beyond that. Ed Thomas was a mentor. He was a mentor to his male athletes, to female athletes in our school, to community members following our tragedy of a year ago. He's been a mentor for us all, to hold up as a role model. And I can tell you as a father – a colleague but more importantly as a father – what this man meant to all of us.

I had two sons that played football for Coach Thomas, and he would sit in front of us at a parent meeting, and he would tell us that, you know, he was gonna coach our child. He was gonna coach our boy. But it wasn't about wins and losses and about football. It was about making them better young men. And he lived that daily. He wanted them to be better husbands some day, better citizens.

His legacy for Parkersburg and for Aplington-Parkersburg is not gonna be football coach. It's gonna be role model, husband, grandparent. Just an outstanding man. And if you have questions or thoughts about Ed Thomas, I would be happy to talk about that man for as long as you'd like.

Thank you.

From room: [inaudible]

Jon Thompson: Thanks, Ron, for bringing that up. We have firmed up a few details on this. He was our football coach so an ideal location – obviously to have a vigil in his honor, to show our respect – would be at the football field.

We don't currently have an auditorium or high school gymnasium so we're planning at 7 p.m. tonight, on our high school football field, for community members, friends, neighbors, whoever cares to show up, to have a vigil. I don't know specifics on it but I can tell you that the lower parking lot to the west is kind of a crime scene right now, so we're asking our friends and our citizens and players to access the football field from the east. That would be Florence Street near our high school baseball field.

You know it's Iowa and weather rolls in so there's a chance for rain tonight. If the weather is not cooperating then we'll move over to Aplington at 7 p.m. Aplington is the home to our middle school – Aplington-Parkersburg Middle School. Either way, it'll be at 7 p.m. and we'll try to get the word on local radio. Just use common sense. If it's raining, then it'll be in Aplington.

From room: What's the image of Coach Thomas that sticks in your head?

Jon Thompson: You know, the first image when you asked the question was, I picture Ed standing up on top of the hill, where our former high school was, looking down over the devastation a year ago of that tornado. And he didn't stop since that moment on, working for the betterment of the school, that football field and the community. And once I get past that initial thought, I think of him as the leader. Whether it's in the lunchroom during the school lunch, on the football field, at meetings. He was a tremendous leader and I've said this before and I don't mind saying it again. He was a good coach but a better role model for us all.

From room: Did he have another role at the school? Athletic director or a teacher?

Jon Thompson: A social studies teacher. Ed started in 1975. Not sure on the math but I believe that means 34 years, or thereabouts, he served our community. He was our athletic director for most of those years if not all of them. And of course he was a football coach as well.

Ed had chances to move on. Ed could have went on to the collegiate level, larger schools within our state and probably outside our borders. But, you know, Ed always said that ‘why would I want to go anywhere else. Everything I need, my family needs is right here.' And when you have somebody that shows that much love, that much care and concern for your community, and for your kids, it's pretty easy to love him back.

From room: [inaudible]

Jon Thompson: Absolutely. We are a school district so, first and foremost, we think of our students. We have counseling that will be in this building, the Parkersburg Elementary, from right away this morning until 6 p.m. tonight. Then again tomorrow, from eight in the morning until 4 p.m. And of course this is a process. Grieving always is. Unfortunately, we have some experience with grieving in our community. We realize it's ongoing so we're gonna try to keep the information sources available to our students and to our families, have counselors available. Wonderful support of our local AEA, neighboring school districts, our NICL school conference. Counselors are here and will be available as long as needed.

From room: Can you tell us more about [inaudible]?

Jon Thompson: It's an Iowa school in the summer. And so, many of these schools across the state open up their weight rooms early in the morning. And I can tell you, it's more than boys, and football players. There's female athletes in there as well. Weightlifting is part of the process you use to build strength but also to build teamwork, sense of community. They're very dedicated around here and so is their coach. And on this given morning that's where Mr. Thomas was, right with his players and other student-athletes.

From room: So it wasn't … structured summer school [inaudible]?

Jon Thompson: No, it was just an optional, volunteer weightlifting. And they hold them at different times during the day. This was the morning session. And, I might add, one thing I've heard Ed tell his players before is when things get tough, when adversity is facing you or your team, you start by moving forward. And if you're having trouble you look to a teammate. He preached that to the students about being willing to look to one another for support. And so I guess I would encourage all of us, as community members, as colleagues, townspeople, that we use that advice and look to support from one another right now. And we'll do that and we will move forward.

Thank you.