Cedar Rapids man charged with attempted murder

A Cedar Rapids man was arrested Friday on two counts of attempted murder in relation to a shooting that happened in July, according to a press release from the Cedar Rapids Police Department.

Brian Allen Keys, 60, also is charged with three counts of assault while displaying a dangerous weapon, and one count each of willful injury resulting in serious injury, reckless use of a firearm resulting in serious injury, and assault causing bodily injury, the release states.

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The shooting happened on July 8, at Keys’ residence in the 3300 block of O Ave NW. Police were called to the scene at about 10:15 p.m., where they found Tyree Smith, 29, with a gunshot wound in his chest, according to a search warrant request that was filed in the Linn County court system on July 9.

According to the warrant request, Keys’ grandchild had traveled without parental permission from Waterloo to Keys’ house in Cedar Rapids earlier in the day. The grandchild had been asked to babysit other siblings and had refused.

Keys told police that Smith and his girlfriend — the parents of the child — came to Keys’ house to pick up the child that evening, and Keys answered the door with his gun in hand. Smith rushed Keys and they began fighting inside the front door. During the fight, Keys shot Smith in the chest, according to the warrant request.

Smith was treated at the scene by first responders and taken to a hospital with “serious but non-life-threatening injuries,” according to a press release from the police department.

When police investigators reviewed the scene, they could see a .380 shell casing inside the front door, and a splatter of blood. There was an unloaded .380 Taurus gun on an upstairs coffee table and a different handgun sitting on the arm rest of a couch in the house, according to the warrant request.

A criminal complaint with more information about Keys’ arrest was not available Friday afternoon.

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