Court documents reveal details of domestic disturbance that led to officer-involved shooting

MT. PLEASANT — The morning of Dec. 6, Henry County authorities served an arrest warrant for Samantha Shumaker of Mt. Pleasant for holding her significant other at gunpoint, Saturday, Dec. 3.

At approximately 10 p.m. Saturday, Mt. Pleasant Police and Henry County Sheriff Officers received a dispatch to 710 N. Main St. for a domestic disturbance.

According to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, a male caller reported a subject with a gun was holding him hostage in a bathroom of the home.

The criminal complaint filed with Henry County courts alleges, Shumaker “was holding a gun to his head.”

Court documents filed by Shumaker agree with the criminal complaint stating that the altercation began verbally and escalated to a physical altercation.

Documents provided by Shumaker further identify the other party as Steve Lovell.

In court documents, Shumaker alleges she and Lovell arrived at her home at 9 p.m. and a verbal altercation broke out pertaining to a disagreement over a phone.

Shumaker asserts that Lovell took her phone, and the verbal encounter turned physical when she used another phone to reach out to her mother.

“He came barging back into the bathroom smashing me with the door,” Shumaker claims. “He then tried to reach for my robe pockets and I told him to stop touching me. He did not care to hear what I said at all!”

Shumaker states that during the physical encounter she feared Lovell would break her hand attempting to obtain the other phone.

She alleges both she and Lovell participated in the physical altercation.

According to Call for Service logs, Mt. Pleasant Officer Chantz Vargus arrived on the scene first at 10:05 p.m. followed shortly by Sergeant Ron Galusha.

In court documents, Shumaker alleges, “I ran and unlocked the back door, went back to the bedroom and sat my gun on the floor by my feet.”

She claims she informed dispatch of these actions while Lovell was on the phone with them.

“No cop entered my home to help,” she states. Shumaker then alleges that Lovell then charged her, and she then picked the gun back up.

“While on scene, I (Officer Vargus) instructed the victim to get out of the residence by jumping out of a window,” Vargus stated in the criminal complaint.

“The victim (Lovell) began to run through the backyard towards the garage,” Vargus further stated. “As the victim was making his way towards the garage, his back was facing the residence. I observed a hand stick out of from the window that the victim had jumped out of.”

“I observed the hand to be holding what appeared to be a dark colored handgun that was pointed towards the victim's [Lovell’s] direction,” Vargus alleges in court documents. “The defendant [Shumaker] was also identified by a Henry County Sheriff's Deputy to be pointing a handgun towards the victim as he was running away from the residence.”

“I did point my gun at him through the window, because like I said, NO COP HAD COME INTO THE HOUSE TO HELP ME,” Shumaker alleges.

“At this point I heard a cop yell ‘stop running or I will shoot.’ So, Steve stopped at the gate of my fence and he had his back to me the whole time,” she continues. “Then I was shot in the arm. Two more shots were fired then Steve yelled, ‘Don’t … shoot her, I did this, not her.”

“I heard all of that happen even after I had been shot, but I DID NOT hear an officer yell to me to put my weapon down,” Shumaker claims.

The criminal complaint states, “A handgun was located on the floor of the bathroom located inside of the residence. The defendant and victim were in an intimate relationship and resided together at the time of this incident.”

“I then was yelling that I had been shot,” Shumaker claims. “The officer that shot me, FINALLY came in the house and applied a tourniquet to my arm. While doing so he was apologizing over and over for shooting me because he was mixed up.”

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation has not released any additional information pertaining to their investigation of the officer involved shooting.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com