STORY BY JAKE BULLINGTON
More shots rang out near Drake’s campus Sunday night, heightening fears of continued gun violence near and along University Avenue.
Drake Public Safety issued a Bulldog Alert at 9:22 p.m. Sunday night advising students to stay indoors and report any suspicious activity. The notice came at a time when many students were outside enjoying the view of the lunar eclipse; some students were less than a block away from where the shots were reported.
Director of Public Safety Scott Law said that authorities, similar to last Thursday’s ‘shots fired’ report, did not find any shell casings.
“Obviously it’s a big area, nighttime, that’s not unusual, but we did have a Des Moines Police officer who was working for Drake at the time, he actually heard the shots and was the first to respond,” Law said.
Two suspects were pursued by DMPD, and eventually K-9s were brought in.
“The K-9s were out because the two individuals being chased fled a vehicle and were on foot, so they had canines to determine the direction of travel and where they were. DMPD took the vehicle into their custody,” Law said.
Des Moines Police K-9s and officers were searching neighborhoods near and on 27th Street, and also interviewed two black males outside of the Old Main Apartments which is coincidentally just across the street from DMPD’s traffic unit building near the corner of 24th Street and Carpenter Ave. The two males were determined to be witnesses to the incident, and were let go after being questioned and having their pockets searched.
At 10:00 p.m., Drake Public Safety informed students that DMPD had ended their active search for suspects, yielding no arrests.
Although the current search is still underway, DMPD and Drake Public Safety have asked students to report any suspicious activity.
