Police: Hostile crowd caused slight delay in getting homicide victim medical attention
A deadly shooting outside of a Des Moines bar killed 29-year-old Alonzo Kearney.
Des Moines police say a large crowd was in the parking lot, a fight broke out, and somebody shot and killed Kearney.
Police say the scene was intense and chaotic when they responded just after midnight on Sunday.
"With our priority getting in there to get somebody some help and not everybody was going with the program to help us do that," said Sgt. Paul Parizek with the Des Moines Police Department.
There was a slight delay in clearing the scene for medics to safely treat Kearney.
Officers performed CPR and medics began treatment shortly after, but he later died at the hospital.
Parizek said the delay in medical attention did not cost Kearney his life. The result would have been the same no matter how quickly they were able to treat him.
The attention has now turned to a suspect.
Des Moines police say he took off running after killing Kearney. While they want justice for the family, they need more witnesses to come forward.
"We know that some folks are reluctant to come forward because they think we've already had that information given to us, or they're concerned about their safety," said Parizek. "There are things we can do to make sure that's taken care of and that they are safe."
KCCI stopped by Zora today. We flagged down the bar's owner in the parking lot, but he drove off.
Police said Zora is cooperating with their investigation. Now, police said they need the public to cooperate with their plea to stop the deadly violence.
"We need to attack the mindset of the person who decides they're going to bring a gun to the bar," Parizek said.
This is the 16th homicide of 2022 in Des Moines.
Watch: Plea from police after deadly shooting outside bar
There was a birthday party being celebrated at Zora that night. The promoter of the party was Deron Wilson, the same promoter from an incident at Shag’s in September.
Police say neither Wilson nor the birthday party led to the death of Kearney. However, they do have a message for promoters and bar owners.
“There’s nothing that the event did that contributed to this. We just encourage all bar owners and promoters to make sure that when they’re hosting events, they don’t create an environment where there’s an atmosphere where anything goes because there are criminals out there that will take advantage of that,” Parizek said.
Wilson told KCCI that he offers his condolences and prayers to the victim’s family.
Police are confident that they will solve this homicide investigation. Police are encouraging more witnesses that were at Zora that night to come forward.
