On June 2 2022, two women were shot down by a shooter in the parking lot of Cornerstone Church on the eastern edge of Ames, Lowa, USA. Later, he took his own life with the same gun which he used to kill those girls.
Police officers who were on the crime scene said Jonathan Lee Whitlatch, who was 33 years old, of Boone, killed Eden Mariah Montang and Vivian Renee Flores in a parking lot at Ames Cornerstone Church. He then took his own life after killing those two girls.
Who Is Eden Montang From Iowa?
Both girls were students at Iowa State University. The school catalogue lists Montang as a senior in Human Development and Family Studies. Whitlatch and Montang had recently split up, and Whitlatch was abusing his ex-girlfriend.
At a news conference in Nevada on Friday morning, Story County Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald said the 911 call centre received initial calls about the incident just after 6:50 p.m.
Within minutes of the shooting, other people arrived and found all three on the ground with gunshot wounds. Paramedics provided assistance at the scene, but those efforts were unsuccessful.
He was recently charged on Tuesday with domestic violence and impersonation. Both cases are related to Montang. He was due to appear in court on June 10.
Authorities say Montang, Flores and a friend were entering the church from the parking lot when Whitlatch entered the parking lot from his truck with a 9mm pistol. Whitlatch reportedly opened fire – hitting Montang and Flores instantly. Later, Whitlatch shot himself and died instantly. The third girl found safety during the shootout and was unharmed.
Ames Church Shooting Victim, Johnathan Lee Whitlatch’s Girlfriend
Montang and Flores were attending a salvage Bible study program at the Salt Company. The incident happened in the parking lot, and there was no indication that the gunman intended to enter the church.
Cornerstone Church has released a statement confirming that the women killed were members of their community which didn’t include any information about the victims of the shooting.
‘Our hearts go out to all the victims, and we pray for everyone affected, especially the family of the deceased,’ the church official said in a statement. The church also planned to hold a prayer service for the victims on Friday.
Mass Shooting In The USA
The shooting is the latest in a series of high-profile shootings in the US in recent weeks.
On May 14, an 18-year-old white man, Payton Gendron, killed ten people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, with a machinegun. Then on May 24, another 18-year-old gunman killed 19 elementary school students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
The following weekend, there were at least 14 big shootings across the US, according to the Gun Violence Archive, the country’s leading shooting centre. On June 1, Michael Louis, 45, shot four people at Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had blamed his doctor for his chronic back pain.