Iowa 2-Year-Old Critically Injured in Shooting, 5 Arrested

A unique turn in a case involving the drive-by shooting of a 2-year-old has resulted in five arrests.

According to We Are Iowa, at approximately 11 p.m. Monday night, March 1, Des Moines police were called to the area around 13th Street and Jefferson Avenue. The original call was for shots fired, but soon came another call of a child that had been shot.

Police found a 2-year-old boy had been shot in the head. There was also a 17-year-old girl in the home, according to We Are Iowa. More than a dozen shots were fired into the home, during a drive-by shooting. Police say the house was targeted, but not the children. The boy remains at Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines in critical condition. The girl was not injured.

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About 90 minutes after police were called to the home in Des Moines, troopers with the Iowa State Patrol came across an accident on I-80 in Dallas County, near mile marker 115. Troopers believed there could be a connection to the shooting and officers with the Des Moines Police Department joined troopers at the accident scene. Two guns were recovered at the scene and five men were arrested. Their booking photos and charges are below. None of the five men were from Des Moines.

Des Moines Police Department Sergeant Paul Parizek told KCCI,

When people ask us why we go so aggressively when it comes to gun and drug and gang crime, this is why. So there is not somebody who is just an innocent bystander gets caught in the crossfires of some ridiculous dispute.