Three People Injured in Waterloo Shooting

By Jeff Reinitz, The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier

Police respond to a report of a shooting in Waterloo, Iowa on Friday, August 3. (Matthew Putney / Courier photographer)

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By Aaron Hepker

Story Created: Aug 3, 2012 at 3:08 PM CDT

Story Updated: Aug 3, 2012 at 6:15 PM CDT

WATERLOO, Iowa - Three youths were injured following an afternoon shooting in a Waterloo neighborhood.

According to witnesses, the three were walking with friends when people in a passing car got out and fired a single shot from a shotgun.

Paramedics examined the victims, and police said the injuries aren’t considered life-threatening. Officers also seized a bicycle that one of the victims was apparently riding at the time.

They also towed a car that was believed to have been used by the shooters from Sunnyside Avenue and searched the house at 224 Sunnyside Avenue. Two people were detained, said Capt. Tim Pillack with the Waterloo Police Department.

Witnesses said the victims were walking in the area of West Second and Allen streets at about 1:45 p.m. when a car drove past them as if trying to hit them. The car then stopped, and someone got out and fired.

Neighbor Gigi Avino said she heard the single shot as she walked out of her home at the same corner. The gunman climbed back into the car and drove off.

Avino said the victims continued on walking and riding bikes, and she was unsure at first if anyone was injured. She called out, asking if anyone was hurt, but they continued on.

Two of the victims went to a relative’s home about a block away on Locust Street where they were met by police and paramedics. They were taken to Allen Hospital with minor injuries from shotgun pellets, authorities said.

A third victim later arrived at the hospital by private vehicle, Pillack said.

Names weren’t immediately available.

“It’s kind of scary. I hate living on this corner,” Avino said. “I’m just glad my grandkids were in the backyard.”

Shootings aren’t a rare occurrence in the area of Friday’s incident.

In May 2009, a man was shot in the leg during a fistfight at the same intersection. Two months after that, three people were shot about a block away.

Avino said she put up fences to prevent people from cutting through her property.

“It keeps them from having a shootout on my lawn,” she said.