Public funeral in Independence planned Friday for slain Iowa trooper Jim Smith

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (AP) - The funeral will be held Friday morning for Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Jim Smith, who was killed while trying to arrest a man barricaded in his Grundy Center home.

The patrol and Smith's family announced a visitation will be from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at Reiff Family Center-Funeral Home and Crematory in Independence. The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Independence Community High School.

The public is welcome to attend and masks are required.

Smith, a 27-year-veteran of the patrol, was shot and killed April 9 during a standoff with Michael Thomas Lang, 41. Authorities have charged Lang, who remains hospitalized, with first-degree murder.

On Sunday, hundreds of people lined streets in Independence when the body of Smith, 51, was transported to the funeral home.

According to his obituary, Smith was born in Cedar Rapids in 1969 and graduated from LaSalle High School and Kirkwood Community College before receiving his bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa. He worked as a security guard and later as a counselor at Four Oaks.