Three people were killed in an early-morning shooting at an Iowa state park on Friday before the apparent gunman killed himself, according to authorities.
Mike Krapfl, special agent in charge of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, said at a news conference that authorities responded to reports of a shooting at the Maquoketa Caves State Park Campground in eastern Iowa shortly before 6:30 a.m. When officers arrived at the scene, they found three people dead, Krapfl said. Authorities have yet to release the names of the victims or specify how they died.
As officials searched the 370-acre state park, Krapfl said they found the body of a camper with a self-inflicted gunshot wound who they believe was the gunman. Authorities identified him as Anthony Sherwin, a 23-year-old man from Nebraska. Investigators had not named a motive in the shooting as of Friday afternoon.
Officials noted there is no ongoing threat to the public. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources announced the park has been shut down.
“The entire park is closed until further notice,” the campground
wrote in a notice on its website.
The campground was evacuated early Friday, including a children’s summer camp that was faced with the “emergency situation.”
“We evacuated camp as soon as we learned about it,” Camp Shalom wrote on its Facebook page.
Known as a destination for spelunkers and hikers, Maquoketa Caves State Park has more caves than any other state park in Iowa. Located about 61 miles northeast of Cedar Rapids, Maquoketa Caves State Park features 13 caves, including Dancehall Cave, which is approximately 800 feet long, according to its website.
Friday’s shooting comes more than a month after a man
shot and killed two women before killing himself in a church parking lot in Ames, Iowa. Jonathan Lee Whitlatch, 33, had shot two women from the congregation — 22-year-old Eden Mariah Montang and 21-year-old Vivian Renee Flores — while a program was going on inside the church on June 2, according to the Story County Sheriff’s Office. When police arrived, the gunman appeared to have died of a self-inflicted wound, Story County Sheriff Capt. Nicholas Lennie told reporters.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) said in a
statement that she was “horrified by the shooting this morning at Maquoketa Caves State Park and devastated by the loss of three innocent lives.”
“As we grieve this unimaginable tragedy, Kevin and I pray for the victims’ family members and the law enforcement officers who responded to the scene,” she said on Twitter. “We ask Iowans to do the same.”
