The Iowa National Guard has confirmed the 33-year-old gunman who killed two young women outside an Ames church was a sergeant in the Guard and one of his victims had been in the Guard since 2019.
Twenty-two-year-old Eden Montang was a mortuary affairs specialist with an Iowa National Guard batallion based in Boone. Johnathan Whitlach, a human resources specialist in the same unit, had been in the Guard for nearly seven years.
The Story County Sheriff said last Friday that Montang recently ended a relationship with Whitlach. He had been arrested days before the shooting and charged with harassing her at work. Authorities say Whitlach shot Montang and 21-year-old Vivian Flores, then himself outside of Cornerstone Church in Ames.
The two women were active in a youth ministry at the church.