Four people were found dead Friday morning at a state park in eastern Iowa, police said, including the suspected shooter.
Police responded to reports of a shooting at the Maquoketa Caves State Park campground before 6:30 a.m., Mike Krapfl, special agent in charge of the Iowa Criminal Investigations Division, said in a communicated.
Responding officers found three people dead in a tent at the scene, Krapfl said. The victims have been identified as Tyler Schmidt, 42, Sarah Schmidt, 42, and Lulu Schmidt, 6, of Cedar Falls. Authorities have previously said they are related.
Officers searching the campground found the body of a Nebraska man who had died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Authorities have identified the suspected shooter as 23-year-old Anthony Orlando Sherwin.
Sherwin “was known to be armed,” said Mitch Mortvedt, deputy director of the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigations.
Investigators do not believe the alleged shooter had a prior relationship with the victims, Mortvedt said, according to The Associated Press.
Iowa allows licensed individuals to carry firearms virtually anywhere in the state. Officials did not say whether Sherwin had a permit.
The campsite was evacuated after the shooting. An on-site children’s summer camp called Camp Shalom said in a Facebook post that parents had been notified and it had set up a pick-up site for campers. Camp Shalom officials said they accounted for all campers.
Krapfl said there was no longer a threat to the public.
Mortvedt told the Des Moines Register, which is part of the USA TODAY Network, that the early morning call for law enforcement was that there were three people dead “inside a tent.”
When the police arrived, they confirmed the deaths and began surveying the area and asking people to leave.
“It became apparent that there was a missing individual at a campsite, not the same campsite but inside the campsite,” Mortvedt said. Law enforcement then began searching the park for the missing person.
At that time, law enforcement did not know why he disappeared or whether he was a victim or a suspect.
“Ultimately a male body was discovered, some distance from the campsite but yet in the state park in the woods,” Mortvedt said. The person, who officials later determined was Sherwin, had apparently suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
In a statement, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said:
“I am horrified by the shooting this morning at Maquoketa Caves National Park and devastated by the loss of three innocent lives. As we mourn this unimaginable tragedy, Kevin and I pray for the family members of the victims and the law enforcement officers who responded to the scene. We ask Iowans to do the same.
One of Iowa’s gems for accessibility, Maquoketa Caves State Park has 13 caves.
The 1,100-foot Grand Dancehall Cave is Iowa’s longest wilderness cave open to the public and easy to navigate.
Maquoketa Caves State Park is located at 9688 Caves Road, approximately 10 miles northwest of Maquoketa in Jackson County. It’s about 180 miles east of Des Moines.
The park will remain closed until at least July 28, Iowa Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Tammie Krausman said.
Contributor: The Associated Press