Man Arrested After Weekend Shooting Outside Des Moines Bar

DES MOINES, Iowa - A man is in jail after a weekend shooting led to the death of a man outside Karma Ultra Lounge, 4995 Merle Hay Road, early Sunday morning.

Deputies found 29-year-old Des Moines resident Sir William Bekish with a gunshot wound to his head. Bekish was transported to a hospital but died from his injuries.

Two women were also injured from gunshots. Both were treated and released from a hospital, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

Thirty-five year-old Gordon Jerome Johnson of Des Moines was arrested Sunday and charged with reckless use of a firearm and possessing a weapon as a felon. He's currently in the Polk County Jail.

The Des Moines Register reports that Johnson was at Karma Ultra Lounge and was observed "discharging a firearm in a reckless manner outside" before running west across Merle Hay Road and hiding the firearm, a Ruger 9mm, in a storm drain in front of Tom's Auto Sales.

But it's not known whether the shots Johnson fired struck anyone.

A community prayer was held Sunday in Evelyn K. Davis Park to honor Bekish.


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