Iowa Mayor Slain, Two on Council Shot by Man With Sewage Problem

A man apparently upset over sewage on his property shot Mayor Edward King and two City Council members in the council chamber Wednesday night, killing King and critically wounding the others, police and witnesses said.

The man burst in on the weekly council meeting, waving a pistol, said Jim Rose, a reporter covering the meeting for the Mount Pleasant News.

Rose said City Atty. Bill Dowell thought the pistol was a cap gun and tried to push it away, but the suspect then opened fire at close range on King and council members JoAnn Sankey and Ronald DuPree. Dowell was not hurt.

“He then laid the gun down on the table and sat down in the front row of chairs,” Rose said.

King, Sankey and DuPree were taken to the Saunders Park branch of the Henry County Health Center in Mount Pleasant, then were flown to a hospital in Iowa City.

Rose said King and Sankey appeared to have been shot in the head, and DuPree suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Rose, quoting Mount Pleasant Public Works Director Roger Grunow, said the gunman appeared at a City Council meeting about a month ago and complained bitterly about the handling of sewage on his property.