GOP VP nominee Mike Pence honors slain Iowa officers at Arizona rally
Nov 2, 2016, 3:12 PM | Updated: 10:15 pm
Republican vice presidential candidate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence speaks at a campaign stop, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016, in Mesa, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
(AP Photo/Matt York)
PHOENIX — Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence honored two police officers killed in Iowa with a moment of silence during a rally in a Phoenix suburb on Wednesday.
Pence referenced Donald Trump in saying, “As my running mate said this morning, an attack on those who keep us safe is an attack on us all.”
The police officers were allegedly shot in the Des Moines area early Wednesday morning by a man who was known to law enforcement.
Police took 46-year-old Scott Michael Greene into custody hours after the killings and less than three weeks after he argued with officers who removed him from a high school football game where he had unfurled a Confederate flag near black spectators.
Greene flagged down a state Department of Natural Resources employee in a rural area west of Des Moines, identified himself and asked that the employee call 911. Sheriff’s deputies and state patrol officers responded and took him into custody.
He’s suspected in the early morning slayings of 24-year-old Justin Martin, who had been with the force in the suburb of Urbandale since 2015, and 39-year-old Sgt. Anthony Beminio, who joined the Des Moines department in 2005.
The shootings happened less than 2 miles apart, and both took place along main streets that cut through residential areas.
Urbandale Police Chief Ross McCarty said that in the first shooting, investigators believe the shooter walked up to the officer’s car and fired more than two dozen rounds.
“I wouldn’t call it a confrontation,” McCarty said. “I don’t think he may have even been aware that there was a gunman next to him.”
Pence noted that his uncle was a police officer, saying “police officers have always been my heroes.”
Pence also noted that Hillary Clinton will also be campaigning in the state later Wednesday.
He said, “I’m sure she’ll show up with that campaign of insults” against Trump.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
