The Iowa gunman who shot two women in the parking lot of a church has been identified.
33-year-old Jonathan Lee Whitlach from Boone shot and killed his ex-girlfriend Eden Mariah Montang, 22, and her friend Vivien Renee Flores, 21, in the parking lot of Cornerstone Church of Armes around 9 pm.
Both women were students at Iowa State University.
Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald said that the gunman killed the victims with a 9MM pistol after Whitlach and Montang broke up.
The incident was the latest shooting to plague the US in recent weeks, following attacks in New York, Texas, California and Oklahoma.
Montang and Whitlach had just broken up and he had been harassing her, police said.
The 33-year-old had been charged with impersonation of a public official and harassment on Tuesday, both charges were related to his ex-girlfriend.
He had been awaiting trial on another charge stemming from an incident last year when he attempted to assault another woman at a nightclub in Cedar Falls, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reported. This incident was caught on CCTV.
Whitlach told officers he did not remember much about the attack because he had been consuming alcohol.
Chief Deputy of Story County Sheriff’s Office Nicolas Lennie said that they were aware of the charge.
After the shooting, investigators searched Whitlatch’s home and found ammo for the 9MM pistol he bought one hour before the attack in the parking lot.
They also discovered an AR-15.
Flores and Montang were attending a bible study at Cornerstone Church in Ames when they were shot. The church held a service to pray for the two victims, with church members hugging each other and couldn’t contain their tears.
“He was there for a specific purpose, which e accomplished,” the sheriff said.
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