Federal authorities arrested a 17-year-old in Georgia accused of opening fire last month on an Iowa City pedestrian mall near a University of Iowa nightlife district, injuring five people, officials said.
Iowa City said in a news release Monday that U.S. marshals captured Damarian M. Jones near Atlanta. The release said Jones, of Cedar Rapids, faces multiple charges in connection with the April 19 shooting and is being held in the Clayton County Jail in Georgia pending a hearing on extradition to Iowa.
The Iowa City release said Jones is charged with five counts of attempted murder and five counts of assault. It did not describe how the marshals tracked him, where the arrest occurred, or whether he resisted, according to the Associated Press account.
Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmerman Smith, who would prosecute the case if Jones is moved back to Iowa, said she did not have details about the arrest circumstances. She also told reporters she did not know whether Jones has an attorney. The AP reported that messages left with the U.S. Marshals Office in Des Moines and the Iowa City Police Department were not immediately returned.
Police said Jones was part of a large fight that broke out along the pedestrian mall lined with shops, bars and restaurants near the Iowa campus just before 2 a.m. on April 19. During a break in the fighting, police allege he fired six shots toward the crowd and then fled.
Investigators said one person was shot in the head, and others were hit in the arm, chest, legs and stomach. The release said one victim remained hospitalized but did not specify which victim or provide details on that person’s condition.