CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A 38-year-old Chicago man has been convicted of attempted murder after he shot an Iowa sheriff’s deputy during a robbery. A Linn County jury found Stanley Donahue guilty Tuesday in the June 2021 shooting at a Casey’s store in Coggon. Prosecutors said Linn County deputy Will Halverson was shot seven times after he responded to a report of a robbery at the store. Prosecutors said Donahue robbed two employees and locked them in a cooler before shooting Halverson seven times. The deputy was seriously injured but recovered and returned to work. No sentencing date was set for Donahue, who faces up to 112 years in prison.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A teenager has pleaded guilty in the drive-by shooting death of another teen outside a Des Moines, Iowa, high school and has been sentenced to a life prison term with the possibility of parole. Romeo Perdomo pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the March 7, 2022, death of 15-year-old Jose Lopez-Perez outside East High School. The Des Moines Register reports the 17-year-old Perdomo’s plea followed a deal in which prosecutors dismissed other charges and recommended he be sentenced to life with a possibility of parole. Adults convicted of first-degree murder in Iowa must spend the rest of their lives in prison but judges can give juveniles a chance at parole. Judge Lawrence McLellan gave Perdomo the life sentence with no requirement on the time he must serve.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – A new bill moving through the statehouse would allow Iowans to leave loaded weapons in parked cars at businesses, prisons, and schools. On Tuesday a subcommittee passed a major firearm bill that would allow gun owners to store loaded firearms and ammunition out of sight, in a locked vehicle, at the three locations. State business leaders said this bill can be dangerous, saying any angry employee could have immediate access to a gun. But the state firearms coalition said the bill protects gun owners’ right to privacy in their personal vehicles.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A monster winter storm is taking aim at the Upper Midwest, threatening to bring blizzard conditions, bitterly cold temperatures and 2 feet of snow in a three-day onslaught that could affect more than 40 million Americans. The storm was to begin around midday and continue through Thursday morning, dumping heavy snow over parts of the Dakotas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. The system was headed straight for the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, where 2 feet of snow or more was possible. More than a foot of snow was expected in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
