ICPD released a statement regarding the situation in the hours since the shooting. According to the release, police had responded to the Clock Tower Parking Ramp at the intersection of Iowa Avenue and North Gilbert Street at 11:45 p.m. on Saturday after nearby officers heard gunshots.
Two men with guns were spotted near Iowa Avenue and North Gilbert Street before gunshots were heard Sunday morning, with police confirming at least one victim.
It also stated that police had received calls that one man had been injured in the incident. The person was subsequently found with gunshot wounds and was treated by first responders before the Johnson County Ambulance Service took the individual to a nearby hospital to be treated for serious injuries. The statement makes no mention of a second injured individual.
Around 11:54 p.m. on Saturday, May 13, a HawkAlert was sent to the University of Iowa community stating that two men had been spotted carrying guns on Iowa Avenue and North Gilbert Street. A second alert came at 12:02 a.m. on Sunday, May 14, which read that gunshots had been heard in the area.
The release concludes by stating that a suspect in the shooting was seen fleeing the area on foot with other people who were involved in an altercation that happened before the shooting.
A final HawkAlert, sent at 1:15 a.m. stated the police presume the incident to be isolated but were advising the public to avoid the area while ICPD officers investigated.
First responders said they found a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds on the sidewalk next to the parking ramp on the Iowa Avenue side. The victim was taken to the hospital. Officials have not released an update on his condition.Police said the shooting happened at the Clock Tower Parking Ramp at the intersection of Iowa Avenue and Gilbert Street. Officers in the area heard multiple gunshots and responded at about 11:45 p.m.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Police arrested an Iowa City man in connection to a shooting on Saturday night that sent a man to the hospital for serious injuries.
In a criminal complaint, police said Voudhivong took the gun from someone else and shot the victim multiple times, before fleeing the area and changing clothes in an attempt to disguise his identity. A building in the area of the shooting sustained an estimated $500 in damage from casings hitting windows.
Voudhivong faces charges of Willful Injury Causing Serious Injury, Reckless Use of a Firearm, Intimidation with a Dangerous Weapon, Going Armed with Intent, Fourth Degree Criminal Mischief and Assault While Participating in a Felony.
A Hawk Alert went out to the University of Iowa community at 11:58 p.m. Saturday saying there were two men with guns in the area and asking people to avoid the area.
Note: this updates a previous version of the story which stated there were two victims, as was stated in an additional Hawk Alert from University of Iowa Police. Police have since said there was only one person shot.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) -Iowa City Police responded to the Clock Tower Parking Ramp at 11:45 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of Iowa Avenue and Gilbert Street after nearby officers heard multiple shots fired. Officers found an adult man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds on the sidewalk adjacent to the parking ramp on the Iowa Avenue side. The man was taken to a hospital for serious injuries.Additional alerts from the university said the shooting appeared to be an isolated incident but encouraged people to remain aware of their surroundings and to avoid the area.
Officials say the suspect was last seen fleeing the area on foot with several other people involved in an altercation before the shooting. Anyone with information is asked to contact Iowa City Police.
“We are running on God’s strength, the prayers of others and adrenaline,” Nile Heefner said. “It has been a rollercoaster of emotions and we’re settling in to be there for him and battle with him.”Heefner, 20, was visiting his grandparents and friends who attend the University of Iowa while on leave from the Marine Corps one week before his first deployment. On Sunday evening, he drove to Panda Express for dinner and was returning to his grandparents’ home on the east side of Iowa City when the shooting occurred.”Gabe just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when that stray bullet hit him,” he said. “People who are not smart and responsible should not have guns.”He was on Highway 6 in a residential neighborhood. The Iowa City Police Department believes the shot was fired from a property on the north side of the road and struck him in the left temple, according to Nile Heefner, his father.
A U.S. Marine who was visiting his grandparents in Iowa City before shipping out to Okinawa is fighting for his life in a hospital after a stray bullet struck him in the temple during a routine fast-food trip.
Nile Heefner said ICPD has video of his son leaving Panda Express, heading down the highway with the grandparents’ miniature schnauzer, Mickey, in the car.
Heefner’s car veered off the road, crossed the median into oncoming traffic and went into a ditch without being hit. Police found Heefner in the ditch.Now hospitalized, Nile Heefner said his son is not responding the way the family had hoped. The Heefners are waiting day-by-day to see if his condition improves.
Nile Heefner said his son graduated from high school in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. He did volunteer work and went to community college for free for a brief time. But Heefner said his son was not enjoying online classes and chose to join the Marines after getting a call from Staff Sgt. Steven Seeder, a recruiter.
When the car passed Casey’s on Highway 6 heading toward Sycamore Street, Nile Heefner said ICPD believes a gunshot from the north side of the road struck him.Nile Heefner’s family lives in Kirkwood, Missouri, just outside of St. Louis, but their roots are in Iowa City. All three children were born at Mercy Hospital. They moved to Missouri when Gabe turned 8.
Heefner said the decision came as a surprise to him and his wife, Codi. In February, their son signed up and left for San Diego to go through boot camp, training and communication school. He graduated at the top of his class.Gabe Heefner was responding Sunday and Monday and even talked to his family, his father said. But his condition deteriorated and he stopped talking, only wiggling his toes, giving a thumbs-up and nodding his head in response to commands and questions.
“He’s a kid who just likes to be doing stuff and doesn’t like to sit still for long. He’s a bit of a risk-taker who always says he like to jump from high places,” he said.Nile Heefner said he and his family will have to discuss whether to hire a lawyer and pursue a civil case against the person who shot Gabe. Their primary concern is for his recovery.
“We’d like to say he’s improving, but he is not showing signs of improving right now,” Nile Heefner said. “The doctors are just saying it is a ‘wait and see’ and it is ‘day-by-day.’ Maybe today or the next day he will show more signs of life.
“Out of nowhere he said, ‘I’m going to join the Marines,'” Nile Heefner said. “He said he wanted to learn leadership, train his body and be a soldier and do something with his life.”
He said the ICPD detective in charge of the case, Gabe Cook, told him there will be criminal charges “for sure” for the person who shot his son, but the seriousness of the charges are to be determined.
“His window was down seven inches and the stray bullet went through that open window and struck him in the (left) temple,” he said. “He immediately drove into the median across westbound traffic … and the car spun out in the grass on the other side.”
Lance Cpl. Gabe Heefner was in critical condition at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics on Friday, a portion of his skull removed, while his family tries to make sense of what happened and police consider criminal charges against the “person of interest” believed to have fired the errant shot.
Gabe Heefner’s medical expenses will be taken care of by the U.S. government, according to his father, but the family has also been contacted by the Wounded Warrior Project and other groups that are willing to help.Nile Heefner said that the family was watching TV on Sunday evening when they received a 911 text and a phone call from an ICPD officer alerting them that Gabe had been in an accident.A ICPD news release Friday called the shooting unintentional and said there is no threat to public safety. No arrests have been made and no charges have been issued.In the coming days, Nile Heefner and his family are going to be logging many miles between St. Louis and Iowa City and he said he is glad people are willing to give support to them from both cities.
George Shillcock is the Press-Citizen’s local government and development reporter covering Iowa City and Johnson County. He can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @ShillcockGeorgeThis message includes information about a crime that was recently reported on or near the University of Iowa campus. The purpose of this email is to provide you with the information you need to stay safe and take any appropriate precautions.We recognize you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which enforces the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore access cannot be granted at this time. For any issues, contact [email protected] or call 319-291-1200.
Paris Barraza covers entertainment, lifestyle and arts at the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Reach her at [email protected] or 319-519-9731. Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.
Iowa City Police Department responded to multiple shots fired at the parking ramp at the intersection of Iowa Avenue and Gilbert Street on May 13 at 11:45 p.m.
Police found an adult man on the sidewalk on the Iowa Avenue side of the parking ramp suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Iowa City Fire Department first responders and Johnson County Ambulance Service also responded, and the man was taken to a hospital for treatment of serious injuries, police said.Alexander O. Voudhivong took a firearm from another person and used it to allegedly shoot the victim on May 13 without justification, according to a criminal complaint. Voudhivong then fled the scene of the crime near the intersection of Iowa Avenue and Gilbert Street and changed clothes nearby to allegedly disguise his identity.The Iowa City Fire Department, the Johnson County Ambulance Service, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, and the Coralville Police Department also responded to the scene, according to the press release.Evan Saltz, a UI fourth-year student, was walking home from the library to his apartment near Court Street when he saw law enforcement with a gun on top of an apartment balcony above La Wine Bar & Restaurant and about a dozen police cars around the parking ramp.Iowa City Police Department officer Dan Biden shines a flashlight while detective Eric Nieland examines evidence after ICPD was called to the Court Street parking ramp for what started as a welfare check in downtown Iowa City on Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. According to a UI Police affidavit, officers received a third-party report that a woman had been forced against her will to go to the bus station by her husband, who allegedly took her from a Cedar Rapids location on Sunday night. After police arrived, Cardale Hunter, 33, pulled out a gun and used the woman as a shield while holding her at gunpoint. According to the City of Iowa City press release, the situation was resolved after the man shot himself, but no other injuries have been reported. Hunter is in stable condition. Hunter is facing charges of second-degree kidnapping, possession of a firearm by a felon, going armed with intent, domestic abuse while displaying a weapon, and child endangerment, according to a UI police release. Saltz stood in a group of about 10 people — mostly UI students — on Burlington Street and watched the incident unfold. At a certain point, Saltz said he and the other onlookers heard a gunshot from the parking ramp. During the incident, Saltz said he felt safe. Iowa City Police officers were responding to a welfare check at the bus depot at 2 p.m. when the incident began, according to a press release from the City of Iowa City. The release states the officers received word that the man was “possibly armed and that a woman and children were involved.”Law enforcement officers then entered the parking garage and climbed to the fourth floor. After about 10 minutes, law enforcement exited the building with a person on a stretcher. The stretcher was placed in a Johnson County ambulance, which went west on Burlington Street. “The police came in just to make sure that the doors were secured to make sure that everybody’s safe but other than that police mostly just left us alone because they were dealing with the issues in the parking garage,” Canny said. “Shortly after things resolved, we did see a gentleman with a very large gun walking past. We’re assuming it was a sniper.” A video posted on the UI Class of 2026 Snapchat group from the nearby Edge apartment complex contains audio from above the parking garage of a man yelling, “She’s free to go, I’m going to kill myself,” followed by the sound of a gunshot.
“I know they had a guy [around the corner] with the AR. They had guys up [above Estela’s] with rifles and they had guys in [the Edge] balcony with rifles,” Curtis said. “…We didn’t hear any gunshots but we had the building owner and the [Element] hotel manager took a couple of cops back and forth through here up to the parking garage.”Both Estela’s Fresh Mex and the Element Hotel declined to speak with DI reporters about the incident. Sara Canny, Bookkeeper at the Hilton Garden Inn which is connected to the parking garage, said police told the workers to lock down the hotel. When officers arrived on the scene, they were met with a man, a woman, and children who were inside the depot. When the man saw Iowa City police officers, he made “threatening comments and fled with the woman into the parking ramp.” The DI accessed the area around the crime scene, which was located on the fourth floor of the parking ramp. Police conducted a 3D scan of the area which contained two trucks and a blue tarp, but little evidence of what had occurred less than an hour earlier could be seen by reporters. Additionally, law enforcement on the scene directed those located in the Voxman Music Building to shelter in place due to the incident at the parking ramp, UI police reported. “Despite efforts to de-escalate the situation by crisis negotiators, the man shot himself. Aid was immediately rendered at the scene and the man was taken via ambulance to an area hospital for treatment. The man is in stable condition and no other injuries were reported,” the release states.Michael Keough, a UI third-year student, was heading with a friend to his brother’s apartment at The Edge apartment building but was stopped by police.
He added that as a UI student he feels safe, but since the Highland Park parade shooting on July 4, he feels unsafe in classrooms in the case of an active shooter.
Law enforcement surrounded the area of the ramp quickly, establishing a one-block perimeter and ordering nearby locations, including the Voxman Music Building, the Element, the Hilton Garden Inn, Chase Bank, and Unimpaired Dry Bar to go on lockdown. Local fire officials directed traffic and pedestrians away from the area. At 2:17 p.m., UI police reported that first responders were on the scene and asked citizens to avoid the area. Police set up in apartments directly across from the Court Street Parking Ramp, including ones located above Estela’s Fresh Mex. Additionally, officers with various guns camped around the side of the Unimpaired Dry Bar and Estela’s Fresh Mex.IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Law enforcement officials were investigating an incident involving multiple gunshots being fired on Sunday morning, resulting in an injury to one person.
Tips can also be sent anonymously to Iowa City Crime Stoppers through their website, by calling (319) 358-TIPS, or by using the P3 Tips app on smart devices. A $1,000 reward is available if the tip leads to an arrest.
Iowa City Police said that they were able to locate evidence that suggests “several people” were involved in the incident. One adult male was taken to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries which officers described as non-life-threatening.At around 1:30 a.m., the University of Iowa Department of Public Safety issued a Hawk Alert for a report of multiple shots that were fired near the Old Capitol parking ramp, located between Clinton and Capitol Streets.