Authorities investigating shots fired in Charles City neighborhood

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Residents of a northwest Charles City neighborhood are wondering what happened Saturday morning to cause several shots to be fired in that area, and authorities said they are looking for three people for questioning regarding the incident.

According to a statement from the Charles City Police Department, officers were sent to the area of North Iowa Street and Hulin Street a little before 11 a.m. Saturday, June 13, after receiving a report of several gunshots being fired.

The statement, issued by Police Chief Hugh Anderson Monday morning, said, “Upon arrival, officers found witnesses telling of multiple shots fired from a handgun toward a residence with people outside.

“A parked, unoccupied vehicle had been struck and evidence was recovered from it,” the report said. “The total damage amount is unknown at this time. Evidence was also collected from around the scene.”

A heavy law enforcement presence was reported in the area after the incident, with Charles City police, Floyd County Sheriff’s deputies, Iowa State Patrol troopers and other agencies involved.

The report issued by the Police Department said that as the investigations continued through the weekend, officers learned the incident stemmed from arguments between parties involved earlier Saturday.

Renee Ginney Miller-White said she lives right across the street from the house where the trouble started, and she and her husband witnessed the event.

Miller-White said she had gone to work earlier in the morning and got back home about 10:30 a.m. Her husband told her that there had been an argument going on at the house across the street on Hulin Street, and he had called the police earlier.

“He stepped outside and asked them if they would please keep it down,” she said, but one of the people at the house swore at her husband and told him to mind his own business.

Miller-White said the argument got heated again about the time she got home from work and a little before 11 a.m. two men walked around the front of her home and down her sidewalk and while still arguing with the occupants of the other home one man pulled out a gun “and shot three rounds off while running off the block.”

She said two bullets hit the side and tire of a neighbor’s Jeep that was parked along the street and another bullet struck the house where the people being argued with live.

Police showed up shortly after the shots had been fired, Miller-White said.

The Charles City Police Department report said a search warrant was executed at an apartment in the 2200 block of Clarkview Drive in relation to the incident and “multiple items were seized.”

“Officers are looking for three subjects being sought for questioning in connection to the incident,” the report said. “No arrest warrants have been issued at this point but the investigation is on-going and fluid.”

Charles City Police Captain Brandon Franke said Monday afternoon that there were no new developments in the incident, and police were still looking for the three people for questioning.

When asked if residents should be concerned that people being sought in the investigation were still apparently at large, he said, “It wasn’t a random incident.”

Assisting the Charles City police were the Iowa State Patrol, the Department of Natural Resources and the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office.