Mayor vows justice as Davenport wracked by night of violence, 2 killings

Tyler Jett
Des Moines Register

DAVENPORT, Iowa — Italia Marie Kelly was leaving a protest Sunday night when a bullet hit her.

Kelly had gone to a rally in a Walmart parking lot to protest police brutality, part of a wave of demonstrations that have erupted across the country during the past week and across Iowa, including in Des Moines.

The rally started peacefully, but around midnight, Kelly began to feel uncomfortable as demonstrators argued loudly, said her aunt, Amy Hale.

Kelly, 22, was trying to get into a friend's car when someone shot her, a friend later told family members. Thirty minutes later, doctors pronounced her dead on arrival at a local hospital. 

Kelly was one of two people who died from gunshot wounds amid a night of violence in Davenport on Sunday and early Monday. Two others were wounded by gunfire, including a Davenport police officer. Police did not release the names of the others victims.

Mayor Mike Matson said during a news conference Monday morning that that the violence that spread across the city originated with the crowd that gathered in about 100 cars in the parking lot. He said first responders had answered 20 shooting calls during the night and reports of three suspicious fires.

Davenport police posted an advisory around 12:30 a.m. Monday, urging residents to stay in their homes. The city also set a curfew for 9 p.m. Monday, and the mayor called on Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds to send in the National Guard.

He insisted on labeling the people involved as "rioters" and vowed they would be brought to justice.

"It is appropriate to grieve what our community has been put through," Matson said. "It is OK to be angry, OK to be scared. But let us not grow wary of doing what is right. …Our community, like so many others across the country, is at a crossroads. We must rise to the occasion for the safety of all people and address the strife we are experiencing with peace, civility and decorum."

'We're mourning what could have been'

Matson said the violence stood in contrast to a peaceful march that occurred here Saturday. Like rallies across the country, the demonstrations in Davenport were sparked by the May 25 death of a Minneapolis man, George Floyd, who pleaded for breath as a police officer pressed his knee into the back of Floyd's neck for about eight minutes.

"The incidents of this last night were not about promoting justice, and they were not about honoring the memory of George Floyd," Matson said Monday morning. "Instead they were intended to create chaos and purposely inflict damage throughout our community."

During a news conference Monday afternoon, Reynolds said of the events in Davenport: "This violence is unacceptable. Our thoughts and prayers are with this officer, his family, and the people of Davenport, as they experience these horrible tragedies."

Davenport NAACP President Larry Roberson said his organization did not participate in or support the rallies that began Sunday night. He said the group generally backs protests of police brutality but opposes vandalism and violence.

Roberson said he does not remember any protest this violent since he moved to Davenport in 1978. He struggled to understand what could have caused such an outbreak of shootings.

"The ones that were destroying property, that had nothing to do with us," he said. "There were some other things going on there that I just don't understand."

Hale said she was not surprised to learn that her niece wanted to protest police brutality. She said Kelly, who was biracial, was outspoken about racial inequality and posted frequently about it on Facebook. 

"Whenever there was an injustice, whenever she felt like someone wasn't being treated fairly, she wasn't one of those that would stand quietly on the sidelines," Hale said. "She was the first one to express her (opinion) and try to right what was going on.

"She wasn't about the violence," Hale added. "She wasn't about the looting and the rioting. She was about justice."

A lifelong Davenport resident, Kelly had gotten into trouble when she fell in with "a bad crowd," her aunt said. She had a criminal record dotted with minor offenses, such as criminal mischief and harassment.

However, Hale said Kelly had begun to turn her life around. She had held down a steady job as a waitress for about six months. Hale said Kelly was empathetic and frequently lifted up her friends.

"We're mourning the loss of her," Hale said. "But we're also mourning what could have been."

Officers ambushed

Hours after the violence began near the Walmart, neighbors heard several gunshots in an alley near West 15th and Myrtle streets. 

Police Chief Paul Sikorski said three officers were riding in a car when they were ambushed. He said several shots hit the vehicle and that an officer was wounded. The other two officers in the car returned fire.

The wounded officer was "in good spirits," Sikorski said during the news conference Monday. He said the other two officers will remain on temporary leave pending an investigation, as is standard procedure for a police-involved shooting.

Ian Arndt, who lives in the 1100 block of W. 15th St., said he was watching videos on his computer around 3 a.m. when he heard six or seven seconds of gunfire. He was afraid to look out the window, worried a stray bullet could crash through. 

About 30 minutes later, his father called him and said he had been monitoring a police scanner and heard an officer was down. About a dozen police cars surrounded the alley, and officers knocked on neighbors' doors, asking for information.

Arndt said he worried for the city.

"I personally don't think that the looting and the rioting and the destroying of a courthouse and buildings, there's no need for that anywhere," he said. "I understand you've got to get a point across. However, there's a right and a wrong way to do it."

George Granderson, 57, who lives a couple of blocks from the shooting, said he wants to talk to the protesters. He was troubled after watching a woman stream part of Sunday night's demonstration on Facebook Live. He said the woman told her friends to begin breaking windows.

Granderson said he just finished a 12-year federal prison sentence on a charge of selling cocaine. He believes the people involved in Sunday night's events don't understand how long an arrest will stay with them. 

"I've never seen anything like this," he said. "These kids are pumping each other up. They're seeing this stuff on TV. And now you're pumping yourself up. You're not no gangster."

Tyler Jett covers jobs and the economy for the Register. Contact him at 515-284-8215 and tjett@registermedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @LetsJett.

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