AMES, Iowa – Authorities planned to release more details Friday about a shooting outside an Iowa church in which a man shot two women before apparently committing suicide.
The shooting took place shortly before 7pm this Thursday in the car park of the Cornerstone Church, a mega-church on the outskirts of Ames. Sheriff’s Captain Nicholas Lennie denied early Friday giving the ages and names of the killings, but confirmed they were adults.
The shooter appeared to have fired after the women were shot, but details will not be released until a press conference scheduled outside the church, Lennie said. The church is located near Interstate 35, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Des Moines.
Cornerstone Church issued a statement confirming that the murdered women were “young members of our community,” but did not give further details about the victims or the shooter, citing the ongoing police investigation.
“Our hearts are broken for all involved, and we are praying for all those affected, especially the families of the victims,” the church said in a statement. The church also planned to hold a prayer service for the victims on Friday.
The shooting follows mass shootings across the country in recent weeks that have shaken the country. These include last week’s shooting of an 18-year-old gunman, which killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and an attack Wednesday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where a gunman killed his surgeon and three other people at a Tulsa doctor’s office. On May 14 in Buffalo, New York, a white man carried out what officials say was a racially motivated attack on a supermarket in a predominantly black neighborhood, killing 10 people.