Cedar Rapids police respond to overnight shootings

CEDAR RAPIDS - A violent dispute between rival factions continues to play out across Cedar Rapids.

Cedar Rapids public safety spokesman Greg Buelow said police responded to three reports of shots fired Monday night into Tuesday morning, two of which were founded. The shootings seem to be related to a spate of recent disturbances, police said.

'The police department believes that the shooting last night may be related and are part of an ongoing dispute by a group of individuals,” Buelow said.

Police were first called to the 300 block of 17th Street SE at 11:06 p.m. Responding officers recovered shell casings and a residence was shot at, Buelow said. There were no injuries reported.

At 1:13 a.m., officers responded to 3929 20th Ave. SW for a report of shots fired. However, no damage, victim or shell casings were found, Buelow said.

The final shots fired call came in at 2:31 a.m. in the 1600 block of Bever Avenue SE. Police found shell casings and damage to an apartment building, the same building that was hit earlier in the night on 17th Street. Another apartment was also hit, Buelow said.

The residents of the building told police they don't know why they might have been targeted.

Including the two confirmed incidents from Monday night and Tuesday morning, police have responded to eight shootings this month. However, police said the dispute tied to several of the shootings started the final weekend in June. On June 27, police responded to a shooting at Redmond Park, 1545 Third Ave. SE. Two people were shot and suffered non-life threatening injuries. The next night, a woman inside an apartment complex at 5001 First Ave. SW was grazed by a bullet in a drive-by shooting. A toddler was in the residence at the time, police said.

Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman said a group of a dozen or so individuals are locked in a conflict over 'respect.”

'A lot of it is about respect and disrespect,” Jerman said this week, before the latest shootings. 'That is something we're aware of. That's something I've spoken to folks about. There are multiple and infinite ways to deal with the respect issue through other means than resorting to firearms. With that being a practice, that's something we can't tolerate.”

Police have said their investigations into the shootings have been hampered by a lack of cooperation from witnesses and victims.