Photo: Douglas Sacha / Moment / Getty Images
(Des Moines, IA) -- A Pleasant Hill Police officer has been cleared in a deadly shooting. The Iowa Attorney General's Office says Officer Steven Burroughs was justified in shooting Bradley Van Heeswyk in August. Police responded to a home August 12th, after reports of an active shooter. Polk County dispatch received multiple calls, in several gunshots were heard in the background. Officers arrived and found Van Heeswyk, standing nude in a backyard, firing shots at a home. Officer Burroughs ordered Van Heeswyk to drop the gun, but he refused. Burroughs fired one shot at Van Heeswyk, who later died at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines.
The owners of the Pleasant Hill home were not present at the time and have no connection to the shooter.
Investigators determined Van Heeswyk had previously been in a relationship with a former resident of the house. Before the officers arrived, Van Heeswyk had shot and killed the current homeowners’ two German Shepherds and caused observable property damage. He was also armed with a .9 mm handgun and knife.
Attorney General Brenna Bird says Van Heeswyk’s reckless firing presented an active threat to not only the officers, but everyone in the surrounding neighborhood.