Police launch homicide investigation after Des Moines man dies in early morning shooting

Danielle Gehr | The Des Moines Register

Des Moines police are investigating a homicide after a 40-year-old man was shot and killed early Sunday morning.

Police responded to a report of gunshots in the area of 38th Street and Woodland Avenue at 2:15 a.m, according to a news release. Officers located the victim, who had been shot in the 600 block of 38th Street. The victim was transported by private vehicle to Methodist Hospital, where he later died as a result of the gunshot injury.

The preliminary investigation indicates that the incident was domestic-related, according to the release.

Police will release the name of the victim once next of kin have been notified.

This is the fourth homicide in Des Moines so far this year. There were 16 homicides by this time in 2017, an unusually violent year that had 25 total, the most deaths since 1978, according to police data.

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The third homicide occurred April 27 when a 20-year-old man was shot and died on scene. Josue D. Alonzo, Jr., of Des Moines was found to have been shot more than once when police responded to a call at East 30th Street and Garfield Avenue.

Police recorded the city's second homicide this year on March 7, when a woman's boyfriend killed her son, 34-year-old Christopher John Latimer, in self-defense in an apartment in the Drake neighborhood. No one was charged.

That killing occurred less than half a mile away — on the same street — from where Cory Lee Channon, the city's first homicide victim of the year, was fatally shot at his home at 1332 21st St. on Jan. 9. Two people were charged with murder in that case. This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

The Register's Luke Nozicka contributed to this article.