IOWA FALLS – On Thursday, April 17, 2014, at approximately 1:20 p.m. the Iowa Falls Police Department responded to an emergency call of an armed suicidal man at 413 College Avenue.
Upon arrival, the subject, Leighton C. Fitz, age 25, exited the residence armed with several weapons and wearing a bullet-proof vest. Fitz refused to obey commands from officers on scene, and reached for a weapon. After refusing to drop the weapon, officers fired rounds, fatally striking Fitz.
After a search of the residence, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agents found multiple loaded weapons and a gas mask. Agents also discovered threats towards officers on Fitz’s Facebook page.
An autopsy is currently being conducted by Dr. Michele Catellier at the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner in Ankeny.
Five officers were involved in the shooting; two Iowa Falls Police Officers and three DPS officers. All officers involved in the shooting are currently on administrative leave pending the investigation.
The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, along with the Iowa State Patrol, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, the Hardin County Sheriff’s, the Iowa Falls Police Department and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office are assisting in the investigation.
No additional information will be released until the investigation is complete.
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GOP party members and right wingnuts LOVE government power and authority. They want the government to bust down your door, shoot your dog and arrest you in your own home for using cannabis, even if you have cancer.
Don’t let them lie to you on the Holy of Holy days, 4/20. The love big government and want it in your own bedroom.
Hey Peter Junior-Big Government is what all you liberals want. You are starting to sound just like stupid and stupider. You are Iowa SUCK aren’t you?
HUT HUT HUT! Ask that rancher in Nevada what it feels like – BY the way who were those storm troopers that killed his prize bulls and wrecked his water supply -Harrrry Reid (pos) BLM does not enforcment personnel?
According to an inside source, the earthship biotecture study group is a farce, with Pete acting as a dictator, trying to call the shots. Said this group will be rather short lived.
This is BS, stay on topic and stop talking about “Pete”.
From what I’ve gathered, those meetings have been nothing but a comedy of errors. No leadership, no order or since of direction are what I’m hearing.
I too think the group will be very short lived and the hut(s) will never be completed and lived in either. The other down side will be, the taxpayers will most likely be the ones who get stuck with the bill for the nuisance abatement cleanup too.
I would like to go to one of those meeting mainly out of curiosity.
Peter is not our enemy, maybe all he needs is someone to be his friend. I believe that solar and wind power will help our future and making a house from mud will be cooler in the summer. What he is doing isn’t that bad of an idea, just needs some organization.
Yeh right.
I am giving him the benefit of the doubt.
@maybe-when are you going to learn. It will not work. Everytime you have tried to be decent with the spacecase he has turned on you and insulted you and put you down for doing your duty like a man. Something he has no concept of. If it makes you feel better go ahead but beware.
@maybe-It is to late. It has been disbanded because of no one else was interested in the hair brained schemes of a mad man (Philly). Another Epic Failure on his part.
I hate when I her people start saying things like “He is trying to call the That kind of talk means that there is a bully about bulling everyone into keep quiet so that they are the only voice heard but they don’t ever take responsibility for the outcome.
I assure you, no one is trying to call any shots. This Messy Blumpkin is nothing but a pure antagonist. It doesn’t matter what the Earthship Biotecture group may or may not do, Mess Blumpkin would be against it. The truth is the Biotecture group hasn’t met in awhile because no one showed up at the last meeting. The person who organized it has stopped wasting his time trying to outreach with people. It’s too disappointing, and people only disappoint. Serious Inquiries ONLY.
So I was right, and I thought you were done here.
@Messy Blumkin-well what do you know, Old Philly has failed at something he tried once again. He is really getting good a lying and failing. What a laughing stock he is. My one hope is he stays in Clear Lake and doesn’t pollute Mason City anymore by coming over here. We have enough stupid idiots over here without him adding to the mess. What an Epic Embarrassment he truely is.
btw…it appears police have taken control of the deceased man’s Facebook account and changed the privacy settings on his last post to “Public”. Yesterday it had been set to “Friends only”. The post reads:
“LET IT BE KNOWN… as if (sic) right f***ing now.i am barricaded him (sic) my house. Tired of being ****ed over. ANY offcer will meet a heavily armed and armored man. Im done.”
He got what he wanted. Next?
While you may support Target Practice for the Police, I don’t. The man was clearly unstable, and going thru a break up with a girlfriend or wife(?) From what I gathered she was the one that alerted police, and was therefore responsible for his death. People need to be aware, that if you report your disturbed loved ones to the police, there’s a good chance they will die as a result. This disturbing trend only prevents people from getting help by “authorities”.
“He was clearly unstable.” Where I come from, we call this “The pot calling the kettle black.”… Next.
They are obviously doing this to try and bolster their case…to attempt to persuade the public they had a legitimate right to use deadly force against the man. I’ll try and link his post for you to read, along with the subsequent comments. If you don’t have a logged in Facebook Account, you probably won’t be able to read the link:
Leighton Fitz’s Final Post
Mr. Prophet Philosophus, Save your breath and time. I could care less what you think happened. You weren’t there, you were not a part of any of this. All you are doing is doing what you do best, speculating and second guessing AFTER the fact….as always.
So why don’t you hurry up and have another one of your patented manic, psychotic, nut-spin episodes and get it over with.
Buzz, I don’t usually like to prophesize in this manner, but with you, I see an “expiration”, on a toilet, like Elvis, with cracks in the porcelain from the excessive weight of your carcass, hunkered over your 1985 Computer on a wheeled Dolly (running Windows 1.0), with a bottle of Jack Daniels in one hand, and your magazine “Boys Life” in the other. Spread about your feet are open National Geographic magazines showcasing indigenous tribes of Africa.
Mr. Prophet Philosophus, “The man was clearly unstable.” If anyone would know what being unstable would be like or appear to be, it would be you.
And, as I’ve said before and will continue to say; “You are a joke and you are the only one who doesn’t get it.”
It’s hilariously obvious how you, LVS and some of the others so desperately believe you can get me to “fly off the handle” into an armed confrontation with police. You guys pray for this on a nightly basis. It has been the rationale behind your sustained, and chronic effort of badgering me on NIT. You want Fireworks…but you’re not going to get them. I’m an intellectual, and I’m peaceful, not violent…so quit wasting your time. Go back to watching Duck Dynasty and Swamp Man.
Pete, just because you claim to be an intellectual does not mean that you are.
Peter-you are just a goofy a## physco and that is all. You continue to prattle on making no sense whatsoever. Go work on your mud hovel and knock off the B.S.
I’ll bet if Matt were to put up a poll for readers to vote on “the most intellectual writer on NIT”, I’d win the contest by a wide margin. Actually I wish he would do something like that. It would be fun. A Reader’s Choice Award for established contributors. Make it a monthly spot and keep us on the front page…like “Employee of the Month”.
The mud hut will never reach completion. One of his earthship study group members told be that the meetings are the most mismanaged things he has ever seen and the group is about to fall apart.
LVS, you perplex me. Sometimes I think you’re paying Matt extra per month for a text alert sent to your 1996 Motorola StarTac clam phone every time “LVS” is found in a comment.
There you go again blowing your own horn, too bad it sounds like a clowns horn.
@Messy Blumkin-Why would they ever expect anything different from the card carrying spacecase. He can’t even manage his own life. Why would anyone think he could manage a meeting, much less a group.
OK here’s what we do. We take all the biggest bully’s from high school and make them cops. Then we make returning soldiers cops. Only people who’ve drank, never some peace loving pot user.
Now we make their lives worth more then ours and give them military vehicles. Then we allow them to seize assets, even without charges and use it to pay overtime.
Then whenever they kill someone we find every excuse to blame the victim and make police saint like.
There you have it. the recipe…
Word.
I am sorry about all the crazy stuff I said, I just may have been wrong.
Word. Word.
Buzz, I thought I saw you gnawing on a dead rabbit on highway 106. Did you come in to clean up?
Basically at this point, I’m calling on all Law Enforcement Personnel to be equipped with Go Pro cameras, so that every interaction can be watched back by Citizen Review Boards. The technology is out there, and we need to employ it. It’s for the protection of our people as well as to protect the officers from unwarranted claims. State Budgets need to figure these in ASAP.
As always, no one gives two squats about what you think or say about anything, so save your breath and our time. You are a joke and you are the only one who doesn’t get it.
Figures you’d just be nasty when you lose. What else can you possibly do? At least LVS has some dignity and just disappears.
I didn’t lose anything. I would be willing to up the number of squats that people don’t care about what you think to 3 though.
Have a Happy Easter too. Oh, that’s right, you’re a Buddhist, sorry, I forgot.
I do appreciate Buddhism, but I also appreciate TRUE Christianity. I’ve always loved the story of Jesus. He was the original rabble rouser against hypocrisy and the authorities. He overturned the tables in the Temple. I like Jesus. I just think he went too far when he proclaimed “You must come through me to get to the Father.” And I also think people misinterpreted and falsified his physical resurrection. He meant “spiritual resurrection”. The laws of this world are finite.
I always get a little giddy when you go off on one of your “smart monologues.” That’s when I can tell you are on the verge of another manic/ psychotic episode.
Remember when you proclaimed yourself as a new world leader once upon a time? I do. Would we have to go through you then to be lead to your utopian world? Can we go there on our loud Harleys too?
It’s only been through God’s infinite mercy and compassion that you’ve been able to continue as you have for as long as you have. I wouldn’t push it. You old crooks are dropping like flies anymore. The government is honing in on you. You castigate the peacemakers, and you taunt and harass people via blog sites and unruly exhaust systems. God also has the ability to instill illnesses within people. I’m just not sure what you hope to accomplish by behaving as you do?
Like I said….I can tell when you are on the verge of another manic/ psychotic episode. Here’s….Petey!!!!!
I think they call those rants, “Nut Spins.”
Philly is prone to psychotic episodes, he needs to seek help for this debilitating affliction he faces. I guess we all have our crosses to bear.
@Philly-How strange that it sure seems like everyone else has the same opinion of you that I do. They all think you belong in a asylum where we don’t have to read your crap anymore.
@Philly -Different from a loser like you I have a wife, family and a life. I also have a pension and retirement so I can go places. Of course if I was living in a basement or mud hut I would stay on the computer 24 hours a day just like you. So, I didn’t just disappear. I just get tired of debating with a idiot like you all the time. You are so damn ignorant you don’t even realize when you have been insulted.
Your name calling and hatred disables your ability to debate an issue. I’ve simultaneously warned your ilk of going down the path of armed armageddon, while also supporting the 1st Amendment rights of the Shooter, and castigating the heavy handed techniques of the police…all in one day. Meanwhile you simpletons continue to fling your feces with the same tablespoons you eat with.
I wonder if those police shooters (60 rounds) will be able to sit nicely in church tomorrow for Easter?
@Philly-It is to bad you were not there as you would have made a great target for the shooter. You are an absolute spacecase and should be locked up for your own protection. Vrooom, vrooom, the Harleys are coming. Probably today.
Apology excepted. We know you are nuts, but we deal with it anyway. Now go back to the basement.
Mommy will be down in a half hour with a bowl of tomato soup and a cheese sammich….with the crusts cut off.
Pete’s mom always makes everything better.
Well anyway. It’s alarming, but I’m not going to let it stop me with my project of peace and prosperity for the future. I may disagree with Iowa’s policy of marijuana prohibition, but Iowa has some rich soils, perfect for mega gardens, and I’m continuing forward with my solar building project. Life marches on. I’m sorry this happened. Maybe you gun nuts need to tone down your anti Obama, anti-government rhetoric. Change is found by persuading the people, NOT flaunting your weapons!
The government is gonna come and take his guns over his dead body@!
Better give that cop a paid vacation. He earned it.
This is the new America, you will never know the truth
So why is his Facebook page taken down? Why not keep it up so the people can see for themselves what he was writing? This whole think stinks. I don’t believe any of it coming from the cops.
Go to timesdaily.com, there is a picture of the man in a bullettproof vest. Stop hating cops dummy.
I found his Facebook Page. It’s still up. I read through the entire thing. Yes he was anti-government, and had many weapons, but I saw no threats, just laments. I believe this was a targeted assassination by police to eliminate a highly armed undesirable in the community. If anything LVS, Maybe, and the rest of you should be worried. One of your own just got put down.
You are nuts…join the pd and put yourself in their shoes…shoot or be shot jack wagon!
@Philly-you for got your old buddy Buzz but he doesn’t care what you say anyway. We are not the ones that need to worry, it is idiots like you that should watch out. The Harley’s are coming for you and mine is on order.
No…it’s you and your group of anti government, gun wielders who need to worry. I’m surprised actually. I was just trying to be supportive of ALL people’s rights to their views. Looks like the government is starting to come after your kind. Better tone it down a bit. Tell Buzz and the others, next time you guys meet at LD’s.
Never met Buzz or Maybe but I wouldn’t mind meeting them sometime. They are very intelligent fellows who have their shit together. Altogether different from you.
The police might be more on my side than I realize. I just assumed they were going after someone who was having a bad day. It turns out this guy was a highly armed gun enthusiast who posted constantly about weapons and anti government rhetoric. Despite this, I support his rights to such views, and I didn’t see anything in his posts that suggested he was overtly threatening. Violence is not the answer, but I wonder if they could have handled him better? I think it was building.
I am not anti government, I am just not too crazy about the people that are in the government right now. We need a structured government too survive, not the criminals we have right now.
#maybe: you guys lost on this one. Better to just let it go. LVS has done the right thing and just dropped out of the conversation. He knows it’s futile and anything he types on this particular article would just make him out to be a liar hypocrite. You guys have guns, and you detest the government. One of your own was taken out. I’m sorry for that. I hope more information comes out about what exactly happened, but I doubt it will. It’s probably long buried and covered up.
@Philly-I didn’t drop out of anything you idiot. I have nothing against the government at all but I do have a lot against Obama (All of it proven). I have always been a supporter of law enforcement (How soon you forget) I guess bad drugs do that to your brain, and I always will support them. You are the one who continuously bad mouths the sheriff and the Clear Lake Police. You change your view faster than anyone I know (another sign of bad drugs). And yes, I own guns as is my right.
@Philly-just to continue on, the only one I really detest are stupid, mental cases like you. You should be committed and locked up before you hurt someone. Are you going to threaten us again?? I am still waiting for you to show up from the last three times you shot off your big mouth.
LVS, you simple little boy. Why do you lie when you lose? I don’t care how old your physical body is. Your mind and spiritual growth are that of a child.
Grow up.
And I hear another A-hole out there with his harassing bike. God will continue taking more of them through accidents if they persist in their harassment of the townspeople. I hope for their sake they learn soon.
Screw you peter, you don’t know me or what I am about. You see anybody that loves guns and you put them all under the same label. You haven’t won any argument with me, you just think you have because I stopped trying to talk to a fool. You keep telling me it’s the middle of the night when the sun is high over head so I just stop because you are totally clueless. I love this country, I know that this country can’t survive without government but the one we have is nothing but crooks.
I am NOT anti government, I am anti criminal. If you are so ignorant that you can’t tell the difference then you are the one with the problem, not me.
Well if you’re all thru attacking me, maybe you can get back to the important points of this story.
1. I saw NO threats made via his Facebook account. At least not the ones set to public.
2. Yes, this man was a gun enthusiast, and he appeared to be very concerned about the government infringing on his rights, and he was depressed and felt hopeless, but he was very cognizant and logical. He wasn’t delusional or incoherent.
3. Police should not have put him in a demanding situation…
I suggest that it was a targeted assassination by the police, because obviously they were aware of this man and his positions. They knew that going there in a demanding manner would more than likely trigger a stand off. I dispute that such a man who was very tactical, would place himself in a vulnerable position. I don’t believe he would walk outside armed, and then “reach for his weapon”. He would know that would result in his death. Police did not have to force a resolve.
What does a police state look like? This is what a police state looks like. It is here. With the increased arming of the citizens (expanded 2nd Amendment rights), police are resorting to more severe resolutions to situations that normally would have been settled with understanding and compassion, and maybe a trip to the local psyche hospital. Now it’s becoming expected for police officers to be able to discharge their weapons and kill. It’s turned into a video game of sorts.
I mean if we need to have a conversation about overpopulation, let’s have that conversation…but to start thinning our population in this manner is neither ethical nor Christian. Desensitizing the public to these killings by police isn’t any better than the 3rd Reich desensitizing the German people to tolerate the routine killings of Jews. The American people have been conditioned now to accept, and even EXPECT these police killings. I’m wondering where the civil rights agencies are?
Is this what you mean by a police state?
http://revolution-news.com/help-u-s-military-veteran-emily-yates-violently-arrest-standing-shade/
I’d say yeah, that about shows it.
Then I would say we finally agree on something.
When my father and sister passed away it was very difficult to get their facebook page taken down.
They don’t want the wall taken down… now it’s a tribute for him.
This may be the official story, but it seems very improbable the way it reads. Why would an armed man with a bullet proof vest exit a house and then reach for a weapon outside the premises. Wouldn’t he already have weapon in hand ready to fire? To me, it sounds like police were the only ones to substantiate the story and created the version they want people to believe. I don’t trust any of it in the least bit. They may have put the vest on him as well and “armed” him post mortem.
Pete — Watch the final scene of “El Camino.” Clint Eastwood did the same thing in front of the gang house. Got a bunch of witnesses, then taunted them, then reached inside of his coat pocket and grabbed a lighter. He wasn’t armed, but they shot the hell out of him because he reached for something. Anyway, this reminded me of that scene. When you get back from your community focus group, or therapy.