Relatives have set up a fundraiser to create a trust fund for the nine year old boy who survived the shooting at a state park that killed his parents and younger sister.
State investigators say Sarah Schmidt, her husband Tyler and their six-year-old daughter Lula of Cedar Falls were killed Friday morning while camping at Maquoketa Caves State Park. Cedar Falls Mayor Bob Green shared in a Facebook post that nine-year-old Arlo Schmidt had “survived the attack and was safe.”
A cousin of the family set up a gofundme account for the boy. By Sunday evening more than $163,000 had been donated. Sarah Schmidt worked at the Cedar Falls Public Library. The library is accepting cards, drawings and mementoes in honor of the family.
The suspected shooter was a 23-year-old from Nebraska who was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a wooded area of the park, some distance from the campground. He had been camping in the park with his parents. The suspect’s father told the Des Moines Register in an email that he heard the gunshots and the shouts of the nine-year-old boy yelling for help.