Two 18-year-olds were killed and two 19-year-olds were gravely wounded in a shooting this weekend in Cedar Rapids.
Cedar Rapids police describe it as a “targeted attack.” Officials say early Saturday morning the shooting victims were sitting in a vehicle, in the parking lot of an Iowa Smoke Shop, near the Kirkwood Community College campus. Investigators say someone walked up and fired multiple rounds into the vehicle.
The two 18-year-old men who were shot to death are Matrell Johnson and Royal Ceiz Abram. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports Johnson had graduated from Metro High in January and Abram was set to graduate from high school next Saturday.
The names of the 19-year-old woman and 19-year-old man who were wounded in the shooting have not been released, but police say both are being treated for life-threatening injuries. A relative of one of the shooting victims told The Cedar Rapids Gazette that on Friday, all four people in the targeted vehicle had attended the funeral of a man who died this month after being shot in Cedar Rapids last December.
A vigil was held in Cedar Rapids Sunday evening for the two 18-year-olds who were killed. Earlier Sunday, a small group gathered near a busy Cedar Rapids intersection, carrying signs to protest gun violence.