Man shot to death after C.R. dice game

By Clara Hogan

The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS -- A 22-year-old man was shot to death last night outside the Cedarwood Hills apartment complex, police said, after what witnesses described as a dice game for money.

It appears that Dominique Mosby, address unknown, knew his killer, police said.

"It does not seem like a person going on a random act of violence," said police Sgt. Cristy Hamblin.

Police responded to shots fired at the complex at 2030 Glass Rd. NE about 6:35 p.m. to find Mosby lying on the ground outside. Emergency responders gave Mosby CPR before he was taken to St. Luke's Hospital, where he died.

Witnesses said they heard about six gunshots coming from a group of men who were sitting on an apartment deck playing dice.

Kristine Harris, 52, whose daughter lives in the complex, said she needed to carry several bags to her daughter's apartment, so she walked up to the group of men and asked them to help her. She saw the men were "shooting some dice" and had a lot of money on the table, she said.

"I was going to offer them a couple bucks to help me," she said, "but I saw they didn't need my money."

About a half-hour later, residents were startled by the sound of five or six gunshots. Many huddled outside while police combed the area for information.

One man who lives near the complex, who said he would speak only if his name weren't used because he feared for his family's safety, said he heard the shots and was one of the first people to call 911.

He said he looked out his window to see someone he thought was the shooter -- a man wearing a long black shirt -- walking away from the scene alone. A group of men in white shirts walked in a different direction, across the 32nd Street NE bridge over Interstate 380, he said.

Cedar Rapids police do not have a complete description of the shooter because they received conflicting accounts, Hamblin said.

Police set up a perimeter and searched the area. Officers were stationed along the bridge and on a bike trail at J Avenue NE. Police also used a K-9 unit to search a wooded area across the street.

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