Three dead in latest mass shooting to plague the US: Gunman opens fire in Iowa church parking lot killing two young women and himself
By Edward Era Barbacena
A shooting outside of a church in Iowa on Thursday evening left two young women and the male gunman dead.
The shooting took place in the parking lot of the Cornerstone Church in Ames, Iowa, shortly before 7pm.
A youth ministry program was taking place inside the church at the time of the shooting.
A statement from a representative of the church characterized the victims as being 'young members' of the church community, though their ages are not known. It is believed the gunman shot himself.
The representative described the shooter as an 'adult male.'
Story County Sheriff Capt. Nicholas Lennie said that 911 calls reporting the shooting began to come in at 6:51pm on Thursday evening.
The shooting took place in the parking lot as people were inside the church attending the weekly Salt Company youth ministry event.
Two young women were killed before the gunman died from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot, according to police. None of their ages or identities are known, but a representative of the youth ministry group said the victims were members of the church.
'We are grieving deeply,' said Mark Vance, of the Salt Company youth ministry at the Cornerstone Church, 'Tonight, a tragic shooting occurred involving two young members of our Cornerstone Church community. It is believed that an adult male shot these two victims and then took his own life.
Vance declined to give further details about the incident, citing the ongoing investigation.
Churchgoers reportedly remained on the grounds and inside the church for hours after the shooting, and photos from the scene show groups of people hugging one another in tears.
Law enforcement has not released any information about the weapon used in the shooting, or suspected motivations.
In a tweet, Iowa governor Kim Reynolds characterized the shooting as 'senseless violence.'
'Tonight's act of senseless violence took the lives of two innocent victims at their place of worship. Kevin and I grieve for the families who have suffered an unfathomable loss.'
The shooting is the latest in a string of mass-shootings that have plagued the US in recent weeks.
On May 14, an 18-year old white supremacist, Payton Gendron, murdered 10 people inside a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, with an assault rifle.
Then on May 24, another 18-year-old shooter murdered 19 elementary school students and two teachers at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
The following holiday weekend there were at least 14 'mass shootings' across the US according to the Gun Violence Archive, an institute tracking shootings in the country.
On June 1, 45-year old Michael Louis shot four people dead at the Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was targeting a doctor he blamed for his chronic back pain.
In a rare evening address on Thursday, President Biden characterized American communities as 'killing fields,' while calling for a ban on assault weapons.
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