DAVENPORT, Iowa — A suspect has been arrested and charged after a man was fatally shot in the parking lot of an eastern Iowa funeral home where he was attending the funeral of his 8-year-old son, who died of cancer, police said.
Jeramie Shorter, 26, of Davenport, was shot Saturday morning outside Weerts Funeral Home in Davenport and later died, the Quad-City Times reported. Shorter was there for the funeral of Jermier Leon Shorter, of St. Paul, Minnesota.
A possible motive for the shooting wasn’t immediately known.
Police who responded to the shooting said officers spotted the suspect in an Infiniti sedan without plates and attempted to pull the car over. But the car sped off, and police disengaged for fear that a high-speed chase through residential areas could injure bystanders.
Police later found the suspect, who fled on foot, but was caught and arrested. During the chase, the suspect – later identified as Nuemonei Tre Vonne Laster, 24, of Davenport – threw a bag containing a gun over a fence, police said. Laster is prohibited from having a gun because of felony convictions from 2018.
Laster appeared in court Sunday on charges of first-degree murder, eluding, being felon in possession of a firearm and interference with a weapon. He is being held on a $300,000 cash bond.
The public defenders office has been appointed to represent Laster, but no public defender was listed Monday morning for him.
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