Muscatine police are investigating an apparent double-homicide after being led on a high-speed chase last night (Wednesday) that ended in a standoff outside an elementary school. Police responded to a call of “shots fired” in a residential area and found the bodies of a man and a woman outside a home and saw a man getting into a van. The man refused to stop and sped away. Officers pursued and put out stop sticks, flattening the van’s front tires. The driver crashed into the front of Mulberry Elementary School where negotiations with police began, both in English and Spanish. Several children and adults were evacuated from the school. After 90 minutes, the man surrendered by getting out of the van and laying on the ground, leaving a handgun in the van. Muscatine Police Chief Gary Coderoni (co-dur-OH-nee) says the potentially explosive standoff situation ended well. Chief Coderoni says the officers had good cover, the civilians were evacuated and time was on their side as the trained negotiators did their job. Coderoni says he was very pleased with the way in which many departments were able to work together to bring the standoff to a peaceful end. The names of the victims haven’t been released and neither has the name of the suspect.
