From the Associated Press (11:20 a.m.):
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A Cedar Rapids man has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to a lesser charge for the shooting death of another teen during a botched robbery. Court records show that 20-year-old Kyler Carson pleaded guilty Tuesday to assault and other counts and was sentenced to three years’ probation. He also must pay $150,000 in restitution to the family of 18-year-old Andrew Gaston. Prosecutors say Carson was 16 when he fatally shot Gaston and injured Gaston’s cousin, Tyrell Gaston, when the Gastons ambushed Carson during a drug deal in an effort to rob Carson of marijuana.
WEBSTER CITY, Iowa (AP) — Prosecutors say a man accused of killing an Iowa state patrol trooper had plenty of opportunity to surrender before the fatal shooting. Assistant Iowa Attorney General Douglas Hammerand made the remarks Tuesday during opening statements in the first-degree murder trial of 42-year-old Michael Thomas Lang. The Waterloo-Cedar Rapids Courier reports that Lang’s attorney, Aaron Hawbaker, told jurors the trooper’s death was tragic but did not amount to murder. Lang is accused in the April 2021 killing of Patrol Sgt. Jim Smith, who was shot as he led a tactical team to arrest Lang in his home. Lang was wanted for assaulting a police officer after a traffic pursuit earlier that day.
PERRY, Iowa (AP) — The police chief of the central Iowa city of Perry was shot in the leg while trying to apprehend a man with a gun. Police Chief Eric Vaughn was shot in the upper leg after he and officers from several agencies responded to a call of shots fired and then found a man with a handgun. Police say officers negotiated with the man, identified as Jeremiah Messner, and convinced him to place the gun on the ground. When officers tried to take Messner into custody, police say he regained possession of the gun. During a struggle with officers, police say Messner shot Vaughn. Vaughn was flown to a Des Moines hospital. He is expected to make a full recovery.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Details are emerging about a Wisconsin congressional candidate who was found with a loaded gun in his carry-on bag at an Iowa airport last year. Republican Derrick Van Orden, who is seeking the seat being vacated by Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, Van Orden was cited in August for having a loaded 9mm Sig Sauer handgun in his bag at the security screening checkpoint at the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, airport. Van Orden entered a guilty plea in December. A magistrate ordered him to pay $360 and show he had taken a firearms safety course. The Journal Sentinel reports that he was also fined an undisclosed amount by the Transportation Security Administration. Van Orden’s campaign says he brought the gun to the airport checkpoint by mistake.
