Man accused of killing 2 Iowa police officers taken into custody

DES MOINES, Iowa — Authorities apprehended a man Wednesday suspected in the early morning killings of two Des Moines area police officers who were shot to death while sitting in their patrol cars in what authorities described as separate ambush-style attacks.

Officers from the Dallas County Sheriff's Office and Iowa State Patrol took 46-year-old Scott Michael Greene into custody and were taking him to Des Moines, police said.

His arrest came about eight hours after the killings to two officers.

Des Moines Sgt. Paul Parizek told CNN that he had few details about the circumstances of Greene's capture, but that Greene was on foot on a roadway at the time and was alone when we was taken into custody.

Officers responded to a report of shots fired at 1:06 a.m. Wednesday and found an Urbandale Police Department officer who had been shot. Authorities from several agencies saturated the area after that shooting, and about 20 minutes later discovered that a Des Moines officer had been shot in a patrol car at an intersection, Des Moines Sgt. Paul Parizek said.

“It doesn’t look there was any interaction between these officers and whoever the coward is who shot them while they sat in their cars,” said Parizek, who became emotional at times during a news conference.

The shootings happened about two miles apart and both took place along main streets that cut through residential areas.

Des Moines and Urbandale Police later said in a statement that they identified 46-year-old Scott Michael Greene, of Urbandale, as a suspect in the killings.

Iowa court records show he has a record of confrontation with police and others. Greene was previously jailed and charged with interference with official acts after resisting Urbandale police officers trying to pat him down for a weapon on April 10, 2014. A complaint signed by an Urbandale officer said Greene resisted verbal commands, was hostile and combative. It said he was known to be armed. He entered a guilty plea and was fined.

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(Scott Michael Greene)

Two days later Urbandale police were called to answer a complaint of harassment at the apartment complex where Greene lived. The complaint says he threatened to kill another man during a confrontation in the parking lot. He was charged with harassment, pleaded guilty and received a suspended jail sentence and a year of probation.

Records show he completed a court-ordered substance abuse and psychological evaluation.

The shootings follow a spate of police killings, including ambushes of officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Five officers were killed in Dallas on July 7 and three were killed later that month in Baton Rouge.

Parizek said officers are now conducting patrols in pairs for protection.

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"There is a clear and present danger to police officers," Parizek said.

Parizek said investigators have no idea what led to the killings, and he speculated that they may never be sure about the shooter's motivations.

He said the officers' deaths are a blow to all officers in the Des Moines area.

"They are our friends and co-workers," he said. "Des Moines is not a big city. We all know each other. We're heart broken."

According to the Des Moines Register, the officers who died were the first officers killed in the line of duty in nearly 40 years.

Urbandale Sgt. Chad Underwood said he believes this is the first time an officer in his department has been shot in the line of duty.

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Underwood said Urbandale officers are equipped with body cameras, but they don't run constantly and it's unclear whether there was video of the shootings.

Urbandale is a suburb of about 40,000 people in the Des Moines metro area with about 50 officers. Officials in Urbandale cancelled school for the day.

Des Moines has about 375 sworn officers.

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The attacks on police this summer in Dallas and Baton Rouge came in the wake of several high-profile police shootings of black men, fueling a national debate about police use of force, especially against minorities - a frequent topic in the nation's presidential race.

Republican nominee Donald Trump has argued that police need the freedom to use greater force, while Democrat Hillary Clinton has taken a more nuanced position of supporting officers while also calling for restraint when dealing with minority communities. The most divisive general election in memory is just six days away.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad called the killings Wednesday, "an attack on the public safety of all Iowans."

"We call on Iowans to support our law enforcement officials in bringing this suspect to justice. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the police officers who were tragically killed in the line of duty as well as the officers who continue to put themselves in harm's way."

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