Iowa police officer fatally shot during arrest attempt; suspect apprehended in Minnesota

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An Iowa police officer died after being shot while trying to arrest a man who was later captured in Minnesota, officials said Thursday.

Algona Police Officer Kevin Cram was shot just before 8 p.m. Wednesday as he tried to arrest 43-year-old Kyle Ricke, said Mitch Mortvedt, assistant director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. Cram, a 33-year-old husband and father who had been an officer in Algona since 2015, was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The shooting prompted a Blue Alert to let the public know a suspect who posed a potential threat to law enforcement was on the loose. Ricke was captured without incident just before midnight and taken into custody in Brown County, Minnesota. Brown County is about 100 miles north of Algona.

IOWA COPS CLEARED OF WRONGDOING IN 16-YEAR-OLD’S SHOOTING

In this booking photo released by the Brown County Sheriff’s Office in Minnesota, Kyle Ricke faces a first-degree murder charge following the shooting death of Algona, Iowa, Police Officer Kevin Cram on Wednesday, on Sept. 13, 2023. (Brown County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

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“Tragic, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching pain and agony, but we will bow our backs, we will be strong, and we will continue to do our jobs,” Iowa Public Safety Commissioner Stephan Bayens said at a news conference.

Cram was on patrol in Algona, a community of about 5,300, when he learned of an arrest warrant for Ricke on a charge of harassment, Mortvedt said. The officer saw Ricke and told him he would be arrested. That’s when Ricke shot him, Mortvedt said.

Ricke was charged with first-degree murder, Mortvedt said, and was being held in Minnesota pending extradition. A phone message left with Ricke’s attorney in the harassment case was not immediately returned.