Officer down

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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You never want to hear that call come over the radio,” state Trooper Jason Marlow told a Gazette reporter Monday. The call he referenced delivered a grim message: a fellow law officer was dead.

For nearly 26 years, no Iowa lawman had been gunned down while on duty. But Monday's incident near Sigourney brought a jarring end to that run. Keokuk County Deputy Eric Stein, 38, was shot and killed as he, Sheriff Jeff Shipley and another deputy arrived at the residence of Jeff Krier, following up on a call from the previous evening, the Iowa State Patrol said. Later, the Patrol's tactical unit shot and killed Krier as he came out of the house armed.

Many details are yet to be verified. But this is a tragedy of the kind that, thankfully, we don't often see in Iowa.

Stein, who had a young daughter, devoted his life to serving the public, first as an EMT and since 2000 with the Sheriff's Office. Krier, 53, had a troubled past, with legal and psychiatric issues on his record, including confrontations with police.

Both men left behind close relatives, many of whom lived nearby. Only they can fully measure their grief and loss.

The rest of us are reminded that usually peaceful rural Iowa is not immune to tragic violence. We want to know the reasons. We hope the investigation provides them, as well as any lessons to learn.