3 relatives fatally shot at state park

A couple and their 6-yearold daughter were shot to death while camping in a state park in eastern Iowa, and the suspected gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

Officers responded to reports of the shooting at the Maquoketa Caves State Park Campground on Friday morning, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said in a statement. Officers found three people fatally shot in a tent at the campground, division assistant director Mitch Mortvedt said.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety identified the three as Tyler Schmidt, 42, Sarah Schmidt, 42, and Lula Schmidt, 6. Cedar Falls Mayor Rob Green posted on Facebook that the couple’s 9-year-old son, Arlo, “survived the attack, and is safe.”

Mortvedt said a motive was not known for the killings in the park about 50 miles east of Cedar Rapids.

Officials immediately evacuated everyone from the park, a children’s summer camp on the grounds and the campground. Once the evacuation was complete, the only registered camper not accounted for was Anthony Sherwin, 23, Mortvedt said.

Officers later found Sherwin dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a wooded area of the park. Investigators don’t believe he had any prior relationship with the victims, Mortvedt said.

The Des Moines Register reported that Sherwin came from La Vista, Neb. La Vista Police Chief Bob Lausten told the newspaper that Sherwin had lived in an apartment complex with his parents and that he had no history of criminal conduct.

Autopsies on Sherwin and the victims were to be performed over the weekend.