Two officers in Iowa killed in ambush-style attacks, police say

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two police officers were shot to death early Wednesday in ambush-style attacks while they were sitting in their patrol cars, authorities said.

Officers responded to a report of shots fired at 1:06 a.m. and found an Urbandale Police Department officer who had been shot. Authorities from several agencies saturated the area after that shooting, and about 20 minutes later discovered that a Des Moines officer had been shot in a patrol car at an intersection, Des Moines Sgt. Paul Parizek said. The shootings happened about 2 miles apart.

"There's somebody out there shooting police officers. We hope to find him before somebody else gets hurt," said Parizek, who became emotional at times during a news conference.

Authorities are developing suspect information but there was nothing that they were ready to share with the public, Parizek said. Officers are now doing patrols in pairs to better protect themselves, he said.

Parizek said he didn't have any more information about the shootings.

Urbandale is a city in the Des Moines metro area with about 50 officers.

Story by the Associated Press; curated by Dave Urbanski