One killed, two injured in Coralville shooting

CORALVILLE - No arrests have been announced in a Christmas Day shooting that left an Iowa City man dead and two others injured at a Coralville apartment building, the city's first homicide in more than four years.

Coralville police on Thursday identified the man who died as Gregory Jackson, 30. The names of the two other shooting victims, who had non-life-threating injuries, were not released.

'Information thus far would indicate all the involved parties knew each other, and this was not a random attack,” Coralville police Chief Shane Kron said in a statement.

Police were called about 9:22 p.m. Wednesday to the 900 block of Boston Way for a report of gunshots. The first officer on the scene found three adults suffering from gunshot wounds. One appeared to be in critical condition, police said. The three were taken to hospitals, and Jackson later died.

The death is being treated as a homicide, Kron confirmed.

It appears the shooting happened outdoors, Kron said. Police had large portions of the apartment buildings in the 900 block of Boston Way cordoned off Wednesday night and throughout much of the day Thursday. Access to the scene was no longer being restricted later Thursday.

'Many shell casings and other evidence has been recovered from the scene,” Kron said in the statement.

The homicide is Coralville's first since Andrea Farrington, a 21-year-old employee of the Iowa Children's Museum, was shot and killed June 12, 2015, inside the Coral Ridge Mall by Alexander Kozak, a 22-year-old former security guard at the mall. He was sentenced to life in prison a year later.

Shelbey Deblieck-King, 27, who lives across the street from where the shooting appears to have taken place, said she heard shots fired shortly after returning home from celebrating Christmas. Deblieck-King said she thought at first they were fireworks.

'The next thing we knew, they kept going off and someone was screaming that someone was shot,” she said, estimating she heard about 10 shots fired.

Deblieck-King, who has lived on Boston Way since September, said she was 'a little freaked out” by the fatal shooting, noting her neighborhood generally is 'pretty quiet.” Children often are playing outside during the day, she said.

Criminal complaints show police were called to the area hours before the shooting was reported, though it was not clear based on information released whether the incidents were related.

Police said a man living at 956 Boston Way hit a woman several times in the head while she was holding their child. That assault took place about 4 p.m., police said.

The man had an active arrest warrant and was served the warrant at 6:18 p.m. He was arrested on a charge of domestic abuse causing injury or mental illness.

An Iowa City woman was arrested in the midst of the investigation at 10:10 p.m. when police say she refused to leave the crime scene after being told to by officers. Police said when the officers attempted to escort her from the scene, she raised her arms and pulled against them while trying to enter the scene. She faces one count of interference with official acts.

The Coralville Police Department is being assisted in the homicide investigation by the Johnson County Sheriff's Office, Iowa City Police Department, Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the University of Iowa Department of Public Safety, the Johnson County Attorney's Office, the Johnson County Medical Examiner's Office and the Coralville Fire Department.

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