Photo: Polk County Jail
The criminal complaint filed by police in the shooting at a non-profit Monday in Des Moines details the initial investigation and charges against 18-year-old suspect Preston Walls of West Des Moines.
In the document investigators say Walls had a loaded 9mm Glock semiautomatic handgun when he entered the Starts Right Here non-profit in Des Moines Monday afternoon.
Will Keeps, the founder of the program tried to escort Walls out of the common area, away from the victims, but Walls pulled the gun and started shooting. Police say the 16 and 18 year old students who were killed were shot multiple times. Will Keeps was also shot, and is in serious but improving condition at a local hospital.
Detectives say Walls was wearing a court-ordered GPS ankle monitor that he cut off 16 minutes before the shooting. They say Walls was in the back seat of a car police pulled over after the shooting, and he ran off on foot, but was found hiding in a brush pile. They say the magazine clip they found holds 31 rounds. Only 3 rounds were left in the gun after the shooting.
In the criminal complaint, police say Walls and the two victims are known rival gang members.
Walls is in the Polk County Jail, facing two counts of first degree murder, attempted murder, and criminal gang activity.