Man who killed 2 outside Iowa church faced harassment case

Story County Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald, proper, and Story County Chief Deputy Nicholas Lennie present extra data throughout a Friday information convention in regards to the capturing exterior Cornerstone Church in Ames, Iowa. The person had been romantically concerned with one of many ladies and confronted a courtroom listening to subsequent week on a cost of harassing her, investigators mentioned Friday. (Kelsey Kremer/Des Moines Register through AP)

A person who fatally shot two ladies earlier than killing himself within the parking zone of an Iowa church had been romantically concerned with one of many ladies and confronted a courtroom listening to subsequent week on a cost of harassing her, investigators mentioned Friday.

Authorities mentioned Johnathan Lee Whitlatch, 33, of Boone, pulled up in a pickup truck exterior Cornerstone Church on the outskirts of Ames simply earlier than 7 p.m. Thursday and commenced capturing at three ladies with a 9 mm handgun.

Eden Montang, 22, and Vivian Flores, 21, had been killed within the assault, and Whitlatch shot himself, Story County Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald mentioned.

The 2 ladies had been pals and college students at Iowa State College and had been strolling collectively to the church for a weekly service that’s widespread with college and highschool college students, the sheriff mentioned.

The sheriff mentioned Whitlatch and Montang had just lately damaged up, and investigators consider Whitlatch’s intent was to kill her.

“He was there for a selected objective, which he completed,” the sheriff mentioned.

On the time, about 80 different college students had been contained in the megachurch, which is close to Interstate 35, Fitzgerald mentioned.

“Our hearts break for all concerned, and we’re praying for everybody affected, particularly the household of the victims,” the church mentioned within the assertion. The church held a prayer service for the victims Friday morning.

Whitlatch — who had an extended historical past with legislation enforcement involving ladies — was arrested Might 31 on counts of harassment and impersonating a police officer.

Particulars of the allegations towards Whitlatch weren’t instantly obtainable, Story County sheriff’s Capt. Nicholas Lennie mentioned. Whitlatch was launched on bond the identical day he was arrested, Lennie mentioned, and had been scheduled to seem in courtroom June 10.

A search of Whitlatch’s truck following the capturing turned up ammunition and a receipt exhibiting he purchased the ammunition an hour earlier than the capturing, Fitzgerald mentioned.

A search warrant executed at Whitlatch’s dwelling additionally turned up an AR-15-style rifle, which was not used within the capturing.

The capturing follows a number of mass shootings within the U.S. in latest weeks which have roiled the nation.

These embody final week’s capturing by an 18-year-old gunman who killed 19 college students and two academics at an elementary faculty in Uvalde, Texas, and an assault Wednesday in Tulsa, Okla., the place a gunman killed his surgeon and three different individuals at a medical workplace. On Might 14 in Buffalo, N.Y., a white man carried out what officers say was a racist assault on a grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood, killing 10 individuals.

Courtroom data present that Whitlatch was arrested in November on a cost of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse and had been set to go to trial subsequent month. Police mentioned safety digicam footage exhibits him twice forcing his hand down a lady’s pants at a Cedar Falls bar.

In 2017, a choose permitted a short lived restraining order towards Whitlatch after one other lady in southeastern Iowa accused him of home abuse, however the order was lifted a month later.

Final week, a choose ordered the state to begin garnishing Whitlatch’s wages to pay youngster help to a lady with whom he had fathered a baby. Whitlatch additionally had a earlier youngster custody dispute with a unique lady, in keeping with courtroom data, and bought divorced from one more lady in 2014.

AP author Grant Schulte contributed to this story.

Story County Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald speaks at a Friday information convention in Nevada, Iowa, in regards to the Thursday night capturing that killed two Iowa State College college students. (Kelsey Kremer/Des Moines Register through AP)

Iowa State Patrol troopers stand exterior Cornerstone Church in Ames after a Thursday night capturing that killed two Iowa State College college students earlier than the gunman killed himself. (Nirmalendu Majumdar/Des Moines Register through AP)

Folks console one another after a Thursday evening capturing at Cornerstone Church in Ames. The shooter, who killed himself, had been romantically concerned with one of many two ladies he killed, the Story County sheriff mentioned Friday. (Nirmalendu Majumdar/Des Moines Register through AP)