Criminal Complaint: Man Fired Into Crowd at Cedar Rapids Nightclub
A criminal complaint gives more details on what authorities say happened during an early-morning shooting Sunday morning at Taboo Nightclub and Lounge in downtown Cedar Rapids.
Early Monday evening, the Cedar Rapids Police Department announced the arrest of 32-year-old Timothy L. Rush on multiple charges. His booking photos are below.
According to a criminal complaint released by the Linn County Attorney's Office Tuesday morning, Rush is charged with killing 35-year-old Nicole Owens and shooting a man in the head, causing serious injury.
The criminal complaint states that Rush was seen with a firearm on surveillance video from earlier in the evening and that he was identified as the shooter of Owens and the man. The complaint says the shooting was "captured on video surveillance." It goes on to say,
The defendant appeared to have fired intentionally and indiscriminately, with what is believed to be a 9 mm handgun, into a large crowd of people after an initial shooting took place resulting in shooting both Owens and --------- (we've removed the name of a man who suffered a serious injury, but was not killed) and possibly several others... There were 9 mm shell casings that were collected from the area where the defendant discharged the firearm into the assembly of people. A search of his residence revealed the presence of a Hi-Point 9mm firearm and preliminary test firing and comparison to shell casings found on the scene indicated that firearm was used...
Rush has been charged with possession of a firearm as a felon, in addition to these four charges related to Sunday morning's incident:
- Second-Degree Murder
- Willful Injury
- Intimidation with a Dangerous Weapon
- Reckless Use of Firearm--Serious Injury
Tuesday morning, Rush made his initial appearance in Linn County Court. KCRG reports he's being held on a $1.5 million cash bond.
In a Tuesday morning news release Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said, "The Linn County Attorney's Office believes there may be other victims that will be identified as a result of the investigation and there could be further charges in this case."
At a Sunday afternoon press conference, Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman said he believed two people were involved in the shootings inside Taboo Nightclub and Lounge at 415 Third St. S.E. Both Nicole Owens and Michael Valentine of Cedar Rapids were killed inside the club, and a total of ten others were injured. To this point, no other arrests have been announced in the incident.