Earlier today Des Moines County Attorney Lisa Schaefer released Assistant Attorney General Andy Prosser’s findings regarding the September 11, 2019 officer-involved shooting of Caleb Peterson in Burlington, Iowa. The Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation and Mr. Prosser conducted an independent investigation into the officer-involved shooting. The City and its officers fully cooperated with their investigation.
The City encourages members of the public to review Assistant Attorney General Prosser’s findings, which state the date, time, specific location, and immediate facts and circumstances surrounding the officer-involved shooting. In summary, Mr. Prosser found that on September 11, 2019 Mr. Peterson was an active shooter in the City of Burlington armed with a semi-automatic pistol, endangering the lives of numerous Burlington residents in two separate neighborhoods. When Burlington Police officers encountered Mr. Peterson they made every attempt to encourage Mr. Peterson to disarm himself and end the encounter peacefully, but ultimately officers were unsuccessful in their attempts to do so. As Mr. Prosser found, this left Burlington Police officers with no choice but to stop Mr. Peterson by their use of deadly force. All Burlington Police officers involved in the shooting remain employed by the City of Burlington and will return to work in the near future.
In addition to Assistant Attorney General Prosser’s findings, the City is providing the public with the body-worn camera videos and dash camera videos that contain the immediate facts and circumstances surrounding the shooting from its officers that responded to the officer-involved shooting. Links to these videos can be found on the City’s website at www.burlingtoniowa.org. Please be warned, the contents of the videos are graphic.
The death of Caleb Peterson is a tragedy for all involved, including Mr. Peterson’s family and the officers responding to the call. City officials continue to keep the many people impacted by this tragedy in their thoughts.
Dash camera and Body video can be viewed on the City's Youtube page - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meSBtOx28PU&list=PLpnLh3YD4EztPH4etTUoOv8ZBVC2GEx5Q