2016 Murders of Des Moines Police Officers

In the early hours of November 2, 2016, two police officers were killed in separate "ambush-style" shootings in and near Des Moines, Iowa. Officer Justin Martin of the Urbandale Police Department was killed shortly after 1:00 a.m. in Urbandale, about 7.5 miles northwest of Des Moines. Officers responding to a report of shots fired at 1:06 a.m. found him dead in his patrol car. About 20 minutes later, Sergeant Anthony Beminio of the Des Moines Police Department was found shot in his vehicle at a nearby intersection roughly two miles from the first scene; he was taken to Iowa Methodist Medical Center, where he died. Security footage of Beminio's shooting, time-stamped at about 1:09 a.m., showed him being fired upon by a man who had pulled a truck alongside his vehicle.

Martin, 24, had served with the Urbandale department since 2015 and was believed to be the first officer of that department killed in the line of duty. Beminio, 38, had served with the Des Moines department since 2005; he was the third Des Moines officer killed in the line of duty in 2016 (following the deaths of two officers in a March collision with an intoxicated driver) and the first to die by homicide since 1977.

Police identified 46-year-old Scott Michael Greene of Urbandale as the sole suspect through investigative leads, including a vehicle description from a witness. Less than two hours after being identified, Greene was apprehended unarmed on a gravel road near Redfield, Iowa, roughly 35 miles west of the shootings, after he flagged down a state Department of Natural Resources officer and asked him to call 9-1-1. He was hospitalized for a preexisting health issue before being released.

Greene had a documented history of confrontations, including prior charges for interference with official acts and harassment, and an incident two weeks before the shootings in which he was removed from a high school football game after waving a Confederate flag near protesting students. He had also been subject to a restraining order obtained by his mother, issued the day before the shootings. Investigators believed both officers were shot by surprise without interacting with the gunman; between fifteen and thirty .223-caliber rounds were believed fired at the Urbandale scene, and a high-powered rifle and the suspect's car were later recovered from a wooded area with the help of a search dog.

Following his hospital release on November 3, 2016, Greene was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and held without bond at the Polk County Jail. On May 20, 2017, he withdrew his not-guilty plea, pleaded guilty to both counts, and was sentenced the same day to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the maximum penalty under Iowa law.

The shootings prompted school closures, public vigils attended by thousands, and condemnation from officials including President Barack Obama, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, and Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Flags were ordered to half-mast in the officers' honor.