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Police: The Gunman Who Killed Two Women at an Iowa Church Had Been Arrested Days Earlier

Police: The Gunman Who Killed Two Women at an Iowa Church Had Been Arrested Days Earlier

Two Iowa State University students were shot and killed by a gunman who then turned his firearm on himself outside of Cornerstone Church in Ames, Iowa. Police say 22-year-old Eden Mariah Montang and 21-year-old Vivian Renee Flores were killed in the fallout of a domestic dispute.

Montang and Flores were attending a Bible study with a third friend who was not injured in the shooting. Police say Montang had recently broken off a relationship with the shooter and gotten a restraining order against him.

The shooter also had been arrested for assault with intent for sexual abuse last year. Police say it was unclear whether or not he had legally obtained the gun he used to kill Montang and Flores, though a receipt for ammunition was found in his truck. According to the Des Moines Register, the shooter “had been charged May 31 by the Ames Police Department and arrested in Boone County for third-degree harassment and impersonating a public official, directly related to the end of the relationship with Montang.” The gunman had posted bail and was scheduled to appear in court next week.

On Friday morning, Cornerstone Church held a prayer service where founding pastor Troy Nesbitt read that “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore.”

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