Iowa City police: Burglaries fueling recent gun crimes

IOWA CITY - Iowa City police are asking gun owners to properly secure their firearms in light of recent gun-related crimes authorities believe are being fueled by residential and vehicular burglaries.

Iowa City Police Lt. Zach Diersen, who heads the department's investigations unit, said police have responded to three shootings in the last month or so, two of which resulted in arrests for attempted murder. There have also been at least five armed robberies in the city since the beginning of the year.

Diersen is attributing the rash of gun crimes to an uptick in residential and vehicular burglaries.

'We're seeing more guns being stolen out of people's homes and their vehicles,” he said Tuesday. 'That's partially because they're not being properly secured. Those firearms are ending up on the streets and being used in some crimes.”

That was the case for 35-year-old Curtis Bell, who Iowa City police arrested following a shooting investigation in late February. Bell, a felon, cannot legally obtain or possess firearms. Diersen said weapons recovered from Bell had been stolen in local burglaries.

And the gun Victor Hall used in a shooting on Feb. 12 had been stolen in a Springville burglary, Diersen said. Police haven't recovered the firearm Darius Davison used during a shooting at the Pheasant Ridge Apartments on Feb. 6, but he, too, is a felon.

'Obviously, he was in possession of a firearm he shouldn't have been,” Diersen said.

As for the recent armed robberies, police haven't made an arrest or recovered a weapon, so it's impossible to know if they're connected to any burglaries. But Diersen said it's not unreasonable to make that connection.

'There's a small group of folks that we suspect are involved in these burglaries,” he said. 'I would anticipate they are the same group of people that are committing these armed robberies.”

Diersen said detectives, as well as members of the department's street crimes team, have been assigned to the unsolved gun-related crimes. Iowa City police are also collaborating with their Cedar Rapids counterparts since they know there are criminals who travel back and forth between the communities.

'We continue to take those calls for service seriously,” Diersen said. 'We'll throw our resources at people who are using firearms illegally and to commit crimes.”

In the meantime, Diersen wants people to lock their cars and secure weapons at home so they don't potentially get used in another crime later on. He also asks that residents keep an eye out for people who don't belong in their neighborhoods.

'We never mind responding to check out suspicious behavior,” he said. 'I'd just encourage people to be vigilant and help us help them.”

l Comments: (319) 398-8238; lee.hermiston@thegazette.com