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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Maquoketa Caves State Park, where man killed couple and their daughter, reopens today
MAQUOKETA, Iowa (AP) — The eastern Iowa state park where police say a man killed three people and himself is set to reopen today.
Maquoketa Caves State Park will reopen for day use starting at 10 a.m., the Iowa Department of Natural Resources said in a news release. A temporary memorial site will be located at the entrance sign near the park's visitor center.
The park, located about 180 miles east of Des Moines, has been closed since Friday, when a gunman shot and killed a Cedar Falls couple and their young daughter inside their tent at the park's campground.
Police later found Anthony Sherwin, 23, of La Vista, Nebraska, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a wooded area outside the campground but inside the state park.
Police said Sherwin killed Tyler Schmidt, 42; his 42-year-old wife, Sarah Schmidt; and their 6-year-old daughter, Lula Schmidt. The couple’s 9-year-old son, Arlo, wasn't injured.
Police have said they have no motive for the killings.
An Iowa State Patrolman walks past a Maquoketa Caves State Park sign as police investigate a shooting that left several people dead, Friday, July 22, 2022, in Maquoketa, Iowa. The campground was evacuated in the wake of the shooting. (Nikos Frazier/Quad City Times via AP)
Emergency personnel block an entrance to the Maquoketa Caves State Park as police investigate a shooting that left several people dead, Friday, July 22, 2022, in Maquoketa, Iowa. Police responded to reports of the shooting at the the Maquoketa Caves State Park Campground before 6:30 a.m., Mike Krapfl, special agent in charge of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, said in a statement. (Nikos Frazier/Quad City Times via AP)
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