Suspect in Iowa officer deaths has history of racial provocations

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A white man with a history of racial provocations and confrontations with police ambushed and fatally shot two white officers today in separate attacks as they sat in their patrol cars, authorities said.

Police took 46-year-old Scott Michael Greene into custody hours after the killings and less than three weeks after he argued with officers who removed him from a high-school football game where he had unfurled a Confederate flag near black spectators.

Greene flagged down an Iowa Department of Natural Resources employee in a rural area west of Des Moines, identified himself and asked that the employee call 911. Sheriff's deputies and state patrol officers took him into custody.

He's suspected in the early morning slayings of 24-year-old Justin Martin, who had been with the force in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale since 2015, and 38-year-old Sgt. Anthony Beminio, who joined the Des Moines department in 2005.

Greene was taken to a hospital for treatment of unknown health issues and was to be questioned later at Des Moines police headquarters, Sgt. Paul Parizek said.

Police responded to a report of shots fired shortly after 1 a.m. and found the Urbandale officer. Authorities from several agencies soon saturated the area. About 20 minutes later, they discovered the Des Moines officer, who had responded to the first shooting, Parizek said.