Police: Man hit by bullet as car crashes during shootout in Des Moines

Tyler J. Davis Luke Nozicka
The Des Moines Register

Justina Glick was too afraid to look out her window.

She heard gunfire Wednesday night less than a block from her family home, just south of downtown Des Moines. Nearby, a car crashed into a utility pole and a man was hit by a bullet, though it did not penetrate him, during a shootout, police said. 

"I just heard the tires screeching," Glick, 25, said as blue and red police lights flashed in the background. "It sounded like they were going back and forth at each other."

A Nissan Maxima crashed into this utility pole at Southeast Fifth Street and Hartford Avenue just south of downtown Des Moines on Wednesday. The car was being chased by another and shots were fired, police said. No arrests have been made and no one was injured.

Officers were called at 8 p.m. for shots fired in the 2100 block of Southeast Fifth Street and a crash on that street at Hartford Avenue in the city's Indianola Hills. Two people in the wrecked car told officers they crashed when they heard the gunfire, trying to flee.

Sgt. Paul Parizek, a Des Moines police spokesman, said officers found 10 shell casings in the street, about 50 yards south of the crash.

That's when officers learned a man was hit in the back by a bullet after it pierced his chair in the 500 block of East Hillside Avenue, about three blocks east of the crash, Parizek said. It did not penetrate him, he said. 

► Support local journalism. Subscribe to the Des Moines Register.

Police believe an exchange of gunfire led to the crash. Two cars were driving on Southeast Fifth when those in one vehicle started shooting at the other, police said. After shots were exchanged, one of the cars, a Nissan Maxima, ran into the pole.

In an update Thursday morning, Parizek said those in the crashed car were not helpful in providing details to officers about what led to the wreck. Investigators remained unsure if the occupants were the intended targets in the shooting, he said.  

Parizek described the bullet that hit the man as an "incidental shot," considering his apartment was about 150 yards from the crash scene.

A Nissan Maxima crashed into this utility pole just south of downtown Des Moines on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. The car was being chased by another and shots were fired, police said. The rear window appears to have been struck by bullets, but no injures have been reported.

The car was hit by at least two bullets. The utility pole stood after the collision and no power outages were visible in the area Wednesday night.

No arrests have been announced. 

Follow the Register on Facebook and Twitter for updates.

Tyler Davis can be reached at tjdavis@registermedia.com or on Twitter @TDavisDMR.

The intersection of SE Fifth Street and Hartford Avenue is seen Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. A shooting occurred here about 8 p.m. A bullet entered an unrelated home but no one was hurt.