3 killed, 3 injured in shooting outside Des Moines bar

Suspects of the triple homicide have not yet been found, police say.

Three people were killed and at least three more were injured in a shooting outside of a Des Moines bar early Sunday morning, according to police. The suspects have not been found.

One of the victims was identified on Sept. 27 by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office as 26-year-old Ezra Taylor. Taylor died from a gunshot wound to the head and his death was ruled a homicide.

A medical examiner’s office spokesperson said the two additional victims have not yet been scientifically identified, therefore their names cannot be released.

At about 1:59 a.m. Sept. 26, Des Moines Police responded to La Familia Sports Pub and Lounge, 22855 Pacific Highway S., for multiple reports of a shooting, according to Detective Sergeant Scott Oak.

“The scene was very chaotic with upwards of 200 people involved,” Oak said, which led to conflicting information initially. So far, police have identified six gunshot victims.

After reviewing surveillance video, Oak said one man was fatally shot in the parking lot of the bar. Two more victims — a man and a woman — were shot and killed on Pacific Highway South, just east of the La Familia building, he said.

One man ran to the nearby Red Lion Hotel lobby, where he received medical care and was transported to the hospital. Two more people with gunshot wounds were also taken to the hospital, he said.

As of Sept. 27, one person is in stable condition at Harborview Medical Center and the two additional victims have been released from the hospital, Oak said.

The incident began over a dispute between two people inside the bar. The dispute spilled into the parking lot and the two people got into separate vehicles, Oak said.

The people began shooting into the crowd while driving away from the bar, Oak said.

“We took in several tips last night regarding potential suspects and our detectives are actively working those,” Oak said in a news release on Sept. 27. “We also obtained quite a few pieces of evidence yesterday, which are being submitted to the crime lab this morning for DNA analysis.”

If the public has any information about the shooting, contact the Des Moines Police Department at 206-878-3301.