Two US police officers have been shot dead in ambush-style attacks while sitting in their patrol cars in Iowa.
Officers responded to a report of shots fired at 1.06am and found an Urbandale Police Department officer who had been shot. Authorities from several agencies saturated the area after that shooting, and about 20 minutes later discovered that a Des Moines officer had been shot in a patrol car at an intersection, Des Moines Sergeant Paul Parizek said.
The shootings happened about 3km apart and both took place along main streets that cut through residential areas.
"There's somebody out there shooting police officers. We hope to find him before somebody else gets hurt," said Parizek, who stopped briefly during a news conference as he worked to control his emotions.
The shootings follow a spate of police killings, including ambushes of officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Five officers were killed in Dallas on July 7 and three were killed later that month in Baton Rouge.
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Authorities in Iowa are developing suspect information but they have nothing that they are ready to share with the public, Parizek said. Officers are now conducting patrols in pairs for protection, he said.
"There is a clear and present danger to police officers," Parizek said.
Parizek said he wouldn't release more information about the shootings.
