Iowa county attorney clears deputy who shot a suspect following fatal Fareway attack
A Delaware County sheriff's deputy has been cleared after shooting and wounding a man who is charged with murder in the November killing of an employee at a Fareway supermarket in Monticello.
Delaware County Attorney John Bernau, in a news release, said "investigative materials" gathered by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation showed that the actions of Deputy Matt Menard were “reasonable under the circumstances of the moment.”
He said Menard, a 25-year veteran of law enforcement, was among law enforcement officials seeking the suspect, Nathan Russell, 38, of East Dubuque, Illinois, following the Nov. 7 murder of Fareway employee Aaron McAtee, 48, of Monticello.
Menard encountered Russell in Hopkinton, a village north of Monticello, Bernau said. "During that contact, Deputy Menard shot and wounded Russell," Bernau said in his release.
In a separate news release at the time of the shooting, Monticello police Chief Britt D. Smith said that while the deputy tried to take Russell into custody, "Russell failed to comply with directions from the Deputy who subsequently discharged his weapon in the attempt to detain Russell."
Neither Smith nor Bernau said whether Russell was armed at the time of the shooting or what directions he had been given.
Russell was taken to the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics and Menard was placed on critical incident leave, authorities said.
Bernau, in his release, said that Menard acted "not only to protect his own life, but the lives of nearby citizens. I have further determined that Deputy Menard acted in accordance with his training and experience. When the whole of the incident is looked at objectively, Deputy Menard’s actions in shooting Russell were reasonable and legally justified under Iowa law and he will face no criminal liability.”
José Mendiola is a breaking news reporter for the Register. Reach him at jmendiola@dmreg.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa deputy cleared in shooting of suspect in Fareway employee slaying
