Officials with the Iowa Department of Public Safety say the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations is looking into an Officer-involved shooting that took place late Monday night, in Boone. The Boone County Dispatch Center received a 911 call at approximately 10:15 pm in reference to a report of a male subject with a gun threatening people.  Officers with the Boone Police Department and Deputies with the Boone County Sheriff’s office responded to the area of 332 West 2nd Street in Boone.

Upon arriving in the area of 332 West 2nd Street, law enforcement located a male subject that matched the description that was given to the Boone County Dispatch Center.  When the male subject was confronted by law enforcement, the subject drew a gun from his waistband.  Law enforcement officers spoke to the subject and ordered the subject to drop the gun numerous times and the subject refused.

After several minutes, the subject raised his arm and allegedly aimed the gun at the officers and approached the officers.  Law enforcement officers engaged the subject and fired their weapons striking the subject.  The subject was immediately given medical aid and was transported to the Boone County Hospital where he later died from the injuries.

The body has been transported to the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner in Ankeny, Iowa, where an autopsy will be conducted today (Tuesday). The officers involved in the incident have been placed on paid administrative leave until the completion of the investigation, per Boone Police Department policy.

Agents from the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) and the Crime Scene Team from the Iowa DCI’s Criminalistics Laboratory responded to the scene.   No additional information will be released at this time.

(Updated 10:38-a.m. w/additional details about the arrest)

A man who was listed as missing and escaped from the Newton Correctional Release Center Monday night was found early this (Tuesday) morning. Fred Scaletta with the Department of Corrections says Timothy Formaro, Jr., was located at around 3:30 a.m. about one-mile north of the Newton facility. He was found in a ditch along Highway 14. State Patrol Aircraft used thermal imaging to assist in locating Formaro.

He was apprehended in a joint Law Enforcement effort by the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department, Iowa State Patrol, Fifth Judicial District Warrant Team and Newton Correctional Facility Security staff. Formaro was transported back to the Newton Medium Correctional Facility and was placed into secured housing pending internal disciplinary procedures and criminal charges.

Timothy J. Formaro, Jr.

Earlier, the Iowa Department of Corrections said Formaro was not present during a routine head count at 9:20-p.m., Monday, and after further search by security staff was been determined that Formaro escaped from the facility. The Newton Correctional Release Center is a minimum security facility.

Formaro was serving a 25 year sentence from Clarke County for Prohibited Acts and Domestic Abuse assault.

Eight suspects from the Omaha-Council Bluffs area are now charged in a series of more than 50 automatic teller machine thefts in Iowa, Nebraska and five other states. Omaha Police Sergeant Meg Fricke says officers launched the investigation several years ago.  “They’ve been working on this case and this series since 2013 putting in so many hours and just hard detective work, picking up every lead and following up,” Fricke says. “In fact, we made an arrest in 2014 but that did not stop these suspects at all.”

The suspects are all from the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro area but the thefts took place across the region. She says all of the A-T-M thefts employed very similar tactics.
“They’ll use a vehicle and attach a chain and pull it right out of the building and take the ATM and remove the cash from the inside,” Fricke says. “There’s been over 50 that we’ve followed in this series.” It took a few years to catch all of the suspects but Fricke says this case should serve as an example to all thieves that the law -will- find you, eventually.

“We use a lot of video in these cases,” she says. “We’re following up with DNA, with witnesses. Everything is trackable and anything that you might use or have, we may get access to and use that to help solve our cases.” Police believe the eight suspects took around 50 ATMs from seven states: Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, South Dakota, Missouri, Oklahoma and Colorado.

The suspects range in age from 24 to 57 and are identified as: Darnell Gordon, Lyle Gordon, Wakonda Hazel, Brenis Vaughn, Kentrell Reed, Bajah Pittman and Isaiah Brown. The first suspect arrested, Larry Gordon, was charged in 2014. Additional indictments are expected.

(Radio Iowa)

The Fourth of July, for the third year in row, falls on a day that gives most Iowans a three day weekend. That’s one reason why AAA (Triple-A) spokesperson Gail Weinholzer is projecting more people than ever before will be hitting the road. “We expect more than 43 million Americans to travel at least 50 miles or more. That is the highest on record, in fact it’s 5 million more than this past Memorial Day weekend,” Weinholzer says. The biggest factor in the motor club’s prediction is gas prices.

“It’s been 11 years since we’ve had prices this low on the Fourth of July weekend,” Weinholzer says. In Iowa, the statewide average for a gallon of regular unleaded gas stands at $2.29. “That’s 43-cents below a year ago…when it was $2.72,” Weinholzer says. AAA reports, nationwide, the average motorist has saved about $100 on gasoline so far this year compared to the first six months of 2015.

(Radio Iowa)