Fort Dodge student and felon allegedly shot girl at huge juvenile party; cops investigate and nab suspect at high school

WEBSTER COUNTY – A Fort Dodge student and felon allegedly shot a girl at a huge juvenile party and cops investigated and nabbed the suspect at high school.

On Friday, September 16th, 2022 at approximately 11:39 PM, the Webster County Communication Center was notified of an incident that took place at a large juvenile party located at 2504 225th Street in rural Webster County. Deputies responded and discovered a large number of juveniles fleeing the scene and later learned that a juvenile female had been shot and was being transported to Unity Point Hospital in a private vehicle. Officers from the Fort Dodge Police Department located a vehicle on 5th Avenue South traveling at a high rate of speed and conducted a traffic stop on this vehicle and discovered the juvenile female victim inside being transported to the hospital. Officers then escorted this victim to the hospital to be treated for her non-life threatening injury. Deputies and detectives conducted numerous interviews of several juveniles and worked to establish a time line of events and to determine what lead to the juvenile female victim being shot. Investigators came to believe the suspect was a male juvenile that was also attending this party.

In coordination with the investigator assigned to the Webster County Attorney’s Office, detectives with the Webster County Sheriff’s Office have followed up on numerous leads, conducted numerous interviews and seized numerous items related to this investigation. The evidence gathered through the investigation lead to the arrest of a 17-year-old male offender on September 21, 2022. In coordination with the Fort Dodge Police Department’s Patrol Division and School Resource Officer, the male juvenile was taken into lam enforcement custody from the Fort Dodge Senior High School without further incident.

The male juvenile is charged with the following criminal offenses:

• Intimidation with a Dangerous Weapon (C Felony)
• Possession of a Firearm by a Prohibited Person – Felon (D Felony)
• Possession of a Firearm by an Ineligible Person (Serious Misdemeanor)

The juvenile male made his initial appearance in Webster county maggistrate court on on September 17 and was ordered held on a $16,000 cash only bond.   The juvenile male is currently being held in the Central Iowa Juvenile Dctcntion Ccntcr in Eldora.

This case is still an active with an ongoing investigation.