A reward of $5,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest in the shooting death of a young woman in Cedar Rapids. Police say 19-year-old Latasha Roundtree was shot late Saturday night on the city’s southwest side, she died Sunday. Cedar Rapids Police Department spokesperson, Cristy Hamblin, says a man called the department and offered to put up the reward money.
“He is not from the Cedar Rapids area, he is from eastern Iowa, saw it on the news and was just really concerned, disheartened over the fact that we had this young lady that was murdered,” Hamblin says, “So he wanted to offer this $5,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the person who murdered Miss Roundtree.”
Roundtree was known in the community for her basketball ability as the starting point guard as a senior last year for Cedar Rapids Washington. Hamblin says the department received a report of shots fired and by the time they reached the area, they then had a report that Roundtree had been taken to the hospital.
They are not releasing many other details. “At this point we’re really kind of guarded with the information that we are releasing…we don’t feel the public is at jeopardy by any means, otherwise we would be saying something different. But we are just real guarded with the information that we do have, so that we don’t jeopardized the case,” Hamblin explains.
Hamblin says you can all the Linn County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-C-S-CRIME (272-7463) to report anything you may’ve seen involving this case. “We’re sure there are people in the community that are aware of what’s going on, may know exactly who it is. And we’re just asking that they come forward,” Hamblin says.
She says it is heartening that someone cared enough to donate the $5,000 for the reward to help in finding the killer. Hamblin says you can call in information and remain anonymous.