Gazette Daily News Briefing, January 4
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for January 4, 2024.
According to the National Weather Service it will be cloudy on Thursday in the Cedar Rapids area, with a high near 33 degrees. The sky will gradually clear during the day and the low will drop down to 22 degrees.
Some more details have been revealed about the officer-involved shooting on Monday.
According to police records, a 20-year-old man, identified Wednesday as Michael Griffin of Cedar Rapids, fired an assault-style rifle at police officers as they pursued him in the events leading up to his death.
A search warrant affidavit filed Wednesday states that Griffin had talked early Monday with the occupants of 414 Longwood Drive NE, while displaying a black AR-15-style rifle. He demanded they tell him the whereabouts of someone he identified only by a street name. They persuaded him to leave, but shortly after, gunfire started hitting the house, the affidavit said.
Police were called to the area at 6:24 a.m. Monday. Witnesses described seeing shots coming from a dark sedan.
As Cedar Rapids police officers were driving to the area, they spotted a car that matched the description — and it had a bag covering its license plate. Police attempted to pull it over, but the car sped up and fled at speeds up to 75 mph.
Two people were inside the car, one of whom got out during the chase and was taken into custody. The driver then continued fleeing, according to the warrant request. Gunshots started coming toward officers through the driver’s side window and also through the back window of the car while the chase was ongoing,
Even after the vehicle was spun to a stop by a squad car, police say they still heard shots being fired from the vehicle, and officers returned fire, according to the search warrant. Griffin was then found dead inside the vehicle.
The five officers who fired on the vehicle have been placed on leave while the DCI investigates the shooting, which is routine for an officer-involved shooting.
Some residents of Westhill Village Apartments in northwest Cedar Rapids were ordered this week to leave their homes by the end of the month after an engineer flagged structural issues in three buildings, including cracks in the drywall and floor unevenness that may lead to a “potential structural failure.”
Residents of the buildings at 1610, 1620 and 1630 Seminole Ave. NW were given 30 days by Waterloo-based EPM Iowa, the private property management company, to vacate the properties.
The city of Cedar Rapids is requiring residents to leave to allow for repairs of structural problems, some stemming from the 2020 derecho.
According to the Building Services Department, the city is in contact with the Westhill Village Apartments’ owner, the owner’s authorized agent and the private property management company.
Under housing and property maintenance codes adopted by the city, the owner or the owner’s authorized agent is responsible for compliance with code violations.
