Police ID man fatally shot by Des Moines officer

Update:

A man shot and killed by Des Moines police on the city's northwest side late Tuesday has been identified.

Detectives confirmed for The Des Moines Register Wednesday morning that Ryan Keith Bolinger, 28, of West Des Moines was shot by police following a vehicle chase Tuesday night.

An officer had pulled over a driver for an unrelated traffic stop at Merle Hay Road and Aurora Avenue at 10:07 p.m. on Tuesday, according to Sgt. Jason Halifax of Des Moines police and police report. A few minutes later, another car pulled up alongside so close that the officer couldn't open the car door.

Previously:

Des Moines police shot and killed a man on the city's northwest side late Tuesday following a vehicle chase, a spokesman said.

Sgt. Jason Halifax said that an officer had pulled over a driver for an unrelated traffic stop at Merle Hay Road and Aurora Avenue just after 10 p.m. A few minutes later, another car pulled up alongside so close that the officer couldn't open the car door.

The driver of the other vehicle got out and danced around, Halifax said, before getting back in his car at 10:17 p.m. and driving south on Merle Hay.

Police followed. The pursuit was low-speed, about the speed limit, and lasted about two minutes.

At Urbandale Avenue, about a mile south, the driver did a U-turn and stopped abruptly, Halifax said. A police officer swerved to miss the car, stopping in front of the vehicle, as another police vehicle pulled up.

Halifax said the driver of the other car got out and moved toward the police car that had just arrived. The officer in that vehicle opened fire and shot the driver in the torso. The man was declared dead at a hospital.

Halifax said he didn't know whether the driver had been armed. No weapon was recovered at the scene. Police weren't immediately sure whether the man had a weapon at the hospital.

Nobody involved has been identified. Halifax said he couldn't say how many shots were fired.

One police car at Merle Hay and Urbandale had a broken driver's-side window. As of 1 a.m. Wednesday, officers had blocked off an inclined stretch of Merle Hay in both directions north from the intersection with Urbandale.

Police said the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation would assist in the investigation. Halifax said he expected that a grand jury would ultimately evaluate the case.

Police don't think the case is connected with the fatal shooting of a teenager earlier Tuesday in Des Moines. The last fatal shooting by a Des Moines police officer was in January. A man who had already robbed a bank and used a handgun to carjack a sport utility vehicle pointed the gun at an officer before he was shot to death, police said.