NASHUA – A Minneapolis man has been named as the person who last week ran down an Iowa law enforcement officer before he was shot dead.
The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation has identified the subject involved in an officer-involved shooting incident last week as Jihad Merrick, age 29, of Minneapolis, MN. An autopsy has been conducted by the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office and the results of that examination and the investigation will be forwarded to the Bremer County Attorney’s Office for review. This incident occurred on Highway 218 southbound at the 211.5 mile marker, which is inside Bremer County.
On January 17th, 2018, at 8:31 PM, the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 report of a subject with a gun pointed at his head in a vehicle at Love’s Truck Stop in Floyd, Iowa. Prior to officers’ arrival, the subject fled the area southbound on Highway 218.
At 8:49 p.m., a Nashua police officer observed a vehicle travelling southbound on Highway 218 at 104 mph. The officer stopped the vehicle and observed the driver get out pointing a handgun at his head. Officers from the Bremer County Sheriff’s Office, the Chickasaw County Sheriff’s Office, Nashua PD, and the Iowa State Patrol responded and negotiated with the driver for approximately 40 minutes before the driver fired a shot from inside the vehicle.
Officers approached the vehicle to find the driver unharmed. The driver resisted officer’s attempts to take him into custody and drove the vehicle forward striking an officer. Two officers fired and struck the suspect. The suspect, Jihad Merrick, was pronounced deceased at the scene.
