Five shot in early-morning fight on Iowa City Ped Mall

3 University of Iowa students among those injured
John McGlothlen Apr 19, 2026 Updated 35 mins ago


Cars drive past the closed off entrance of the Pedestrian Mall in Iowa City, Iowa on Sunday, April 19, 2026. A shooting in the 100 block of East College Street occurred early Sunday morning, which resulted in several University of Iowa students being sent to the hospital. Police are still investigating the area and no arrests have been made at this time.
Savannah Blake/The Gazette

IOWA CITY — Iowa City police are asking for the public’s help to identify “persons of interest” in an early Sunday shooting on the Iowa City Pedestrian Mall that injured five people — including three University of Iowa students.

One of the victims is in critical condition and the other four are in stable condition following the shootings that officers said occurred during a large fight on the Ped Mall. Surveillance camera footage shows five individuals — whom police have identified as “persons of interest associated with this shooting” — walking in the same direction, hands in pockets.

UI senior Leah Rauch was leaving The Union bar around 1:40 a.m. Sunday with four friends headed east on the Ped Mall toward the Iowa City Library when she heard the shots. ... “We heard what we thought was two gunshots, and then kind of a pause, and then everyone kind of looked around, and then we heard a couple more gunshots, and everyone just started sprinting,” Rauch, 22, told The Gazette. “I think everyone was just kind of confused. No one really knew what was going on.”

As a UI senior, Rauch said she’s spent plenty of time downtown and never had anything like this happen before. ... “There are fights that happen at closing time,” she said. “I wouldn't say that's unusual — but nothing that escalates to this level.”

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