A man fatally shot two women in the parking lot of an Iowa megachurch before turning the gun on himself Thursday night, police said.
The man committed the horrific violence around 6:50 p.m. while a youth ministry service was taking place inside Cornerstone Church in Ames, Story County Sheriff’s Captain Nicholas Lennie said. , to reporters, according to the Des Moines Register.
Worshipers remained inside the church during the shooting and no other injuries were reported, the newspaper reported.
No further details were immediately available about the apparent double murder suicide.
“I wouldn’t say I’m shocked as law enforcement,” Lennie told reporters. “We prepare and train hard for it, but when it happens it’s obviously chaotic until you get the hang of it.”
Ames, home of Iowa State University, is a city of about 66,000 located about 30 miles north of the state capital in Des Moines.
According to the Cornerstone Church website, it was founded in 1994 from an ISU university ministry, The Salt Company, which is the name of its youth ministry today. Approximately 1,300 students attend services at Cornerstone every Thursday evening during the school year.
“Tonight’s senseless act of violence claimed the lives of two innocent victims at their place of worship,” Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said. said Thursday evening. “Kevin and I mourn the families who have suffered an unfathomable loss.”
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