AMES (AP) — A man who led police Monday on a car chase through Iowa State University that ended with multiple gunshots on campus has died, law enforcement said.
Ames Police spokesman Geoff Huff said in an afternoon news conference that the man was taken to Mary Greeley Medical Center after he was shot in the morning incident. He was later pronounced dead.
Huff said the man was driving his father’s reported stolen pickup truck with a trailer when he ignored a patrol car’s emergency lights. The man at one point put his truck in reverse and drove the trailer into the patrol car.
The man drove the car through a red light and the trailer became unhitched. The truck eventually went against one-way traffic, and witnesses told police that people were forced to jump out of the truck’s way.
The truck jumped the curb into a grassy area and eventually crashed into a tree. Huff said the car continued to rev its engine, and the driver ignored officers’ verbal commands to shut the car off.
An Ames officer “fired six rounds at the truck in an effort to stop the on-going threat to the public and the officers,” striking the driver at least once, according to a police report. Authorities did not say if the suspect was armed. The man’s name has not been released. The name of the officer involved also has not yet been released.
No students were involved or harmed in the incident. Students and university employees were told by the campus notification system that shots had been reported fired on campus. The message is distributed by email, cellphone and text message.
The Iowa State Daily, the university’s student newspaper, said an alert was sent to ISU students shortly before 11 a.m. that said the threat was over.
At one point, police cordoned off an area around the crash site and asked people to avoid that area.
“There is no threat to the community and we’ve encouraged people to go about their normal activity,” said university spokeswoman Annette Hacker.
The truck had a Spring Green Lawn Care logo on the side. A woman who answered the telephone at the business’ Boone office said the company had no comment.
The officer involved in the shooting is on paid administrative leave until the investigation is complete, a department policy.