U.S. marshals arrested a 17-year-old fugitive in Georgia on Monday whom authorities accuse of opening fire on a crowded Iowa City pedestrian mall last month, striking five people near the University of Iowa’s nightlife district.
Damarian M. Jones, of Cedar Rapids, was taken into custody near Atlanta, Iowa City officials said in a news release. He faces five counts of attempted murder and five counts of assault. Jones was being held in the Clayton County Jail pending a hearing on extradition to Iowa. The release did not say how marshals tracked him down, exactly where he was arrested, or whether he resisted.
Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmerman Smith, who would prosecute the case if Jones is returned to Iowa, told the Associated Press she had no details about the circumstances of the arrest and did not know whether Jones had an attorney. Messages left at the U.S. Marshals Office in Des Moines and the Iowa City Police Department were not immediately returned.
Police have said the shooting broke out during a large fight that erupted just before 2 a.m. on April 19 along the pedestrian mall lined with shops, bars, and restaurants near the university campus. During a break in the fighting, Jones allegedly fired six shots toward the crowd and then fled, according to police accounts.
Five people were struck. One was shot in the head, another in the arm and chest, two in at least one leg, and a fifth in the stomach. In its Monday update, Iowa City officials said one victim remained hospitalized but did not provide further details about that person’s condition.
The capture ends a weekslong search for the suspect, who was named publicly after investigators identified him from evidence collected at the scene, authorities said.