As President Joe Biden spoke on gun violence Thursday night, a church in Iowa became the site of one of the latest violent attacks.
The Des Moines Register and other outlets reported that several 911 calls reached the police Thursday evening about a shooting at Cornerstone Church in Ames, Iowa. Story County Sheriff Capt. Nicholas Lennie later told the media that three people were killed, including the shooter.
“The church hosts a regular Thursday evening event for its youth ministry, the Salt Company,” the Register reported, noting that the shooting took place in the parking lot outside the church.
Friday morning, the Story County Sheriff’s Office released more details about the shooting. Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald described it as a domestic violence incident, noting that the shooter, 33-year-old Johnathan Whitlatch, and one of the victims, Eden Montang, 22, had recently broken up.
“Fitzgerald said Whitlatch fired several rounds from a 9mm handgun, striking Montang and (her friend, 21-year-old Vivian) Flores, then turned the gun on himself. A third woman who was with Montang and Flores was able to find safety and was not injured,” KCCI News, a Des Moines outlet, reported.
Montang and Flores were both students at Iowa State University, which is located in Ames, the article noted.
The Rev. Mark Vance, lead pastor at Cornerstone Church, released a statement Thursday in support of the victims’ families.
“We are more than saddened by the events that transpired. Our hearts break for all involved, and we are praying for everyone affected, especially the family of the victims,” he said, according to the Des Moines Register.
The Iowa church shooting comes just over one week after a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and nearly three weeks after attacks on a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and on Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, California.
During his address on Thursday, Biden called on Congress to pass “rational, common-sense” gun control measures to stem the tide of gun violence.
“After Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Charleston, after Orlando, after Las Vegas, after Parkland, nothing has been done. This time, that can’t be true. This time, we must actually do something. The issue we face is one of conscience and common sense,” he said.