ALGONA, Iowa – A police officer in Iowa was killed Wednesday evening after he was shot while trying to arrest a male suspect who was later captured in Minnesota, law enforcement officials confirmed Thursday.
Officer Kevin Cram with the Algona Police Department was shot just before 8 p.m. Wednesday as he tried to take Kyle Ricke, 43, into custody on an arrest warrant. The critically wounded officer was rushed to Kossuth Regional Health Center where he was pronounced dead, confirmed Mitch Mortvedt, assistant director of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, according to MPR News.
The 33-year-old fallen officer was a husband and father who had served in law enforcement for 10 years, first with the Nora Springs Police Department from 2013-2015, and then the Algona Police Department from 2015-2023, the Iowa Department of Public Safety said in a press statement.
Cram was on patrol in Algona when he learned that Ricke had an active arrest warrant charging him with harassment. He located the suspect and told him he would be arrested. That’s when Ricke shot and killed Cram, said Mortvedt.
Officer Kevin Cram with the Algona Police Department was killed on Wednesday. (Iowa Department of Public Safety)
The deadly shooting occurred in a community of roughly 5,300 residents and located about 30 miles south of the Iowa-Minnesota state line. It prompted an alert to inform the public about a suspect who posed a threat to law enforcement and was on the run.
State troopers and deputies with the Brown County Sheriff’s Office found Ricke at a relative’s house in Sleepy Eye, Minn. just before midnight. Law enforcement personnel took him into custody without incident, MPR News reported.
Kyle Ricke (Iowa Department of Public Safety)
“Tragic, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching pain and agony, but we will bow our backs, we will be strong, and we will continue to do our jobs,” Iowa Department of Public Safety Commissioner Stephan Bayens said at a news conference.
Mortvedt said Ricke was charged with first-degree murder. He was booked at a jail facility in Minnesota pending extradition.
