'You never know what's going on in peoples' houses': Des Moines neighbors concerned after 2 dead in shooting

Police occupied a Merle Hay neighborhood street on a bitter cold Wednesday evening after a shooting left two dead and two hospitalized.

Des Moines police were on the scene investigating at about 4 p.m., Sgt. Paul Parizek said. Officers found two people dead on the 2700 block of 51st Street and another with a gunshot wound to the leg.

Police found evidence that a fourth person had been at the scene but fled. Officers found that person several blocks away, in the 2700 block of Merle Hay Road, with a gunshot wound to the leg. All involved are Des Moines men, police say.

The two deceased are 28 years old and 21 years old, Parizek said in a 9:30 p.m. news release. A 31-year-old man and a 26-year-old man were injured and have been hospitalized, but are expected to survive.

None of those involved were identified by police.

Parizek said investigators have not determined a motive or suspect, but he does not believe there's a further threat to the public.

Joe Robuck, 30, immediately thought of his pregnant wife when he heard of a shooting on the block they've lived the past five years.

"On my way home (from work) I was just kind of shook," Robuck said. "You don't see this type of stuff over here ... Crime can happen everywhere."

His wife, Lyndsey Robuck, 30, wasn't home during the shooting, but her neighbor — who runs an in-home daycare — was. The neighbor didn't hear the shots fired, Robuck was told, but was shaken up by the proximity of the violence to the children in her care..

Stephanie Petersen, 49, who lives next door to where the homicide took place, also said she didn't hear the shooting, despite being upstairs on her enclosed porch. She said the home where the shooting happened has a soundproof recording studio that could have covered the sound.

The property where the shooting occurred includes a detached garage.

"That's where we’re focusing our crime scene efforts,” Parizek said. “Really early on in this. We’re kind of putting the pieces together right now.

“This is going to be an active scene for us well through the night.”

Petersen said she only spoke with her neighbor a few times over the last couple of years. The neighborhood is typically quiet — aside from a drive-by shooting down the street a couple of years ago, she said.

"Things happen," Petersen said. "For the most part, I know my neighbors, and we kind of keep to ourselves."

It's the second deadly shooting of the year in Des Moines. Early on New Year's Day a 14-year-old boy was shot and killed while standing inside an enclosed porch at a house in the 1400 block of 17th Street. No arrest has been made in that case.

"It's definitely uncommon for this area," Joe Robuck said. "But you never know what's going on in peoples' houses."

Danielle Gehr is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at dgehr@dmreg.com, 515-284-8387 or on Twitter at @Dani_Gehr.

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