One dead, one hurt as Cedar Rapids officers respond to 911 call

CEDAR RAPIDS — An armed man making threats was killed — and a bystander who had called police for help was injured — when three Cedar Rapids officers opened fire Saturday night in northeast Cedar Rapids after the armed man pointed a weapon at them, authorities said.

None of the officers were injured. They were placed on leave, which is protocol as the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation reviews the shooting.

The incident unfolded just after 6:30 p.m. Saturday after a man — identified by the DCI as a “suspect” — asked for officers to respond to his house on 31st Street NE. Another man also called 911 and asked police to conduct a welfare check on the man, who was acting erratically.

“It was reported the suspect was making homicidal and suicidal statements and was armed with a weapon,” the DCI said in a news release.

The officers found the suspect “in the area” — the news release doesn’t say exactly where — and also the man who had requested the welfare check.

“Officers conducted a high risk approach and the suspect was observed with a weapon in his hands,” the DCI release said. “The officers gave verbal commands to the suspect to drop the weapon. The suspect raised the weapon in the direction of officers. Three officers discharged their weapons at the suspect who immediately fell to the ground after being struck by gunfire.”

The man died at the scene. But the man who had called for help was also struck in the shooting and was taken to a hospital “for treatment of multiple gunshot wounds.” His condition was not released.

The DCI did not release names of the man who died, the man who was injured or the names of the three officers involved.

The division said the results of its investigation will be turned over to the Linn County Attorney’s Office for review and a determination on the use of force.

This is the second DCI investigation of a Cedar Rapids police-involved shooting this year. On New Year’ Day, Michael Griffin, 20, opened fire on Cedar Rapids police at least twice as he fled from them before he was forced off the road. Five officers fired at his car, believing he was still firing at them. The officers fired 63 rounds, but none of them stuck Griffin. Investigators said he killed himself.

“Their actions on the morning of Jan. 1, 2024, were taken to protect the community and to save their own lives,” Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks ruled after reviewing the investigation of that incident. “Without question, this was clearly a justified shooting by these officers.”