5 dead in Muscatine shootings, police say domestic dispute behind killings
Four people were found shot inside a Park Avenue home before the violence spread to two more Muscatine locations and ended with the suspected shooter dead.
Four people were dead inside a Park Avenue home before officers finished tracing the violence across Muscatine, a sequence police say ended with seven deaths and a domestic-related dispute at its center.
Muscatine police said MUSCOM received the first report of a shooting at about 12:12 p.m. Monday at 210 Park Avenue. Officers found four people with gunshot wounds inside the home, and all four were pronounced dead at the scene. Police identified the suspected shooter as Ryan Willis McFarland, 52, of Muscatine, and said he had left before officers arrived.
The search for McFarland led officers to the Riverfront Trail near the pedestrian bridge, where police said he was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Despite medical aid, he was pronounced dead at the scene. As detectives continued working the case, they found two more apparent gunshot victims, one inside a residence at 1509 Mill Street and another inside a business at 808 Grandview Avenue.
Police said the preliminary findings point to a domestic-related dispute, and all of the victims are believed to have been family members of McFarland. The shooting spree left six victims dead plus the suspected shooter, for seven deaths in all. Police also said McFarland had a criminal record, though they did not elaborate on the nature of it.
Muscatine Police Chief Anthony Kies called the killings an “act of evil” and said there was no active threat to the community. The investigation remained active and ongoing, with help from the Muscatine Fire Department, the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office, the Iowa State Patrol and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
Police asked anyone with information to contact Lt. David O’Connor of the Major Crimes Unit at (563) 263-9922, extension 608, and said callers may remain anonymous. The rapid spread from one home to another residence and then to a business left investigators piecing together a timeline that now stretches from Park Avenue to Mill Street, Grandview Avenue and the Riverfront Trail in the span of a single afternoon.
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