DES MOINES, IOWA (July 16, 2024) — In a report issued today, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office has concluded that the March 25, 2024, fatal shooting of John Carl Piazza by Waterloo police officers was “legally justified.”
The Attorney General’s conclusion was based on a review and investigation by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. The investigation found that at 11:56AM, Black Hawk County Communications Center received a call from a physician at Mercy One hospital in Cedar Falls who requested a welfare check for Piazza. Piazza visited the hospital seeking help for anxiety but left angry and talking about wanting kill something. Responding officers followed Piazza to a Casey’s, where they observed him with a black gun in his waistband.
At 2:46PM, the Waterloo Communications Center received a 911 call from Kuennen’s Automotive Clinic. The caller reported that Piazza entered the shop demanding to see the owner, who was not present. Piazza then put a gun to his head, fired a shot in the shop, and screamed at the caller to get hold of the owner. After leaving, saying he was going to get a rifle, Piazza returned and shattered the glass window trying to get back into the shop.
Multiple Waterloo police officers dispatched to the area, along with an armored vehicle, and surrounded Piazza at his home. Piazza did not answer phone calls from law enforcement and refused to abide by the officers’ demands over the armored vehicle’s public-address speaker to come out with his hands up. After Piazza aimed a shotgun out his window directly at one of the officers, another officer fired a single shot. Piazza died of a gunshot to the head. It was later revealed that Piazza had also threatened the life of a worker at a local liquor shop, and he was intoxicated on both alcohol and THC. His wife reported that when she tried to calm him down earlier that day, he told her there would be a “shoot-out” if cops arrived, pulled out all his guns, and asked her to leave. In Piazza’s home, a note was found on the kitchen counter that stated, “I’m sorry.”
The report is issued under the Attorney General’s independent authority under Iowa Code section 13.12 to investigate or prosecute conduct of law enforcement that results in death.
A copy of the report is available here.
