State identifies 5 officers involved in fatal shooting near Martelle

Ten days after authorities shot and killed a man near Martelle they said had refused orders to drop a knife, investigators Friday released the names of five officers interviewed by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation as the agency reviews the shooting.

The DCI earlier said the five had been placed on routine administrative leave while the incident is being investigated. Friday, the division said the five had voluntarily spoken with the state investigators. They were identified as:

In all, 11 police and fire agencies responded Aug. 31 to an emergency call about a burning building near Martelle in Jones County, the Iowa Department of Public Safety said. When the responders arrived, they encountered a large structure fire and a man armed with a knife.

The man, Jeremy Michael Berg, 45, did not comply with orders from law enforcement to drop the knife and was shot by officers, according to the Public Safety Department. Investigators have not said how many rounds were fired or if all five officers struck Berg after firing.

Berg, who had struggled with methamphetamine addiction and depression, was living on the property with his maternal grandparents, his mother — Margie Fensterman, of Colesburg — said in an interview with The Gazette.

“They tried to get him to stop. My mom tried to go up there so she could get him to put the knife down, but they (officers) wouldn’t let her,” Fensterman told a reporter. “I think he pushed the limit to get the officers to shoot him.”