Father and son dead after a police standoff in Woodbury County
A father and son are dead after a standoff and exchange of gunfire with law enforcement in northwest Iowa that started on Sunday night.
The Woodbury County Sheriff's Office got a call around 7:30 p.m. Sunday from 72-year-old Todd Sulsberger saying his son, 44-year-old Walter Sulsberger, was shooting at him at a residence near Old Highway 141, Sheriff Chad Sheehan said during a news conference Monday. When officials arrived, the son was still at the scene and said there would be no peaceful resolution and made threats toward officers.
The sheriff's office requested additional assistance from the Sioux City Police Department, Iowa State Patrol and other agencies, Sheehan said.
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At 2:45 a.m. Monday, Sheehan said Walter fired shots toward the tactical team trying to move in to take him into custody while on the phone with a crisis negotiator. That's when officials fired back, striking him, Sheehan said. Medical aid was provided, but Walter died at the scene.
Todd also was pronounced dead at the scene, but his cause of death was not released.
The Iowa Department of Criminal Investigations is investigating both the officer-involved shooting and the father's death.
“To say that last night was anything less than frightening would be an understatement,” Sheehan said. “It was something, as the (police) chief and I spoke this morning, we could not have imagined that we would be involved in something that was as dramatic as it was last night for the tactical teams that were there when they came under heavy fire from the suspect.”
Fires were set to large hay bales in the area that Sheehan said could be seen for miles down the valley, but it has not been determined who lit them.
No first responders were injured. The officers who discharged their weapons were automatically put on administrative leave per policy, Sheehan said.
Noelle Alviz-Gransee is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. Follow her on Twitter @NoelleHannika or email her at NAlvizGransee@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Father and son dead after Hornick, Iowa shooting with police
