Several Iowa City organizations are teaming up for a community vigil in the wake of a downtown shooting that injured five people.
The peace vigil will start at 6 p.m. Monday, April 20, at Trinity Episcopal Church, 320 East College St., and then migrate to the Pedestrian Mall. The event is organized by multiple religious communities in eastern Iowa and the local chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
The event is in response to a shooting that left five injured, three of which are University of Iowa students, early Sunday, April 19 in Iowa City’s Pedestrian Mall. One of the wounded is in critical condition while the four others are stable, according to the Iowa City Public Safety department. No arrests have been made.
“Anyone (in) Iowa City (is welcome to) come together to lament this weekend’s violence on the Ped Mall and recommit ourselves to building the peace every person in our community deserves,” said local community organizer Sue Thompson in a news release.
What happened in the Iowa City Ped Mall shooting?
A shooting broke out shortly before 2 a.m., Sunday, after a large fight on the Ped Mall, near East College and Clinton streets, just blocks away from the University of Iowa campus. Police arrived at the scene around 1:45 a.m., at which point they said they heard gunfire.
The Iowa City Police Department has identified five persons of interest and is asking for the public’s help.
How common are shootings in Iowa City?
The Iowa City community is still reeling after Sunday’s mass shooting during a time when gun violence has touched the eastern Iowa town repeatedly over the last 18 months.
While the federal government lacks a widely accepted definition of “mass shooting,” the Gun Violence Archive, a national nonprofit group, identifies a mass shooting as an incident where “…a minimum of four victims shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter who may also have been killed or injured in the incident.”
According to the Iowa City Police Department’s 2025 annual report, police recorded and responded to eight shootings, which included six wounded and one unsolved homicide. The local police department seized 74 guns in 2025. In 2024, there were seven documented shootings and the ICPD siezed a total of 53 firearms.
Nationally, 2025 shooting deaths and injuries plummeted to some of their lowest levels on record after gun violence spiked during the COVID-19 Pandemic, according to a report from the Trace. At least 40,000 people were shot in 2025, more than 110 people per day, which didn’t include death by suicide.
In 2026, the Gun Violence Archive has identified 117 mass shootings in the U.S., a figure that includes the recent Iowa City shooting.
Jessica Rish is an entertainment, dining and education reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She can be reached at JRish@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @rishjessica_
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Community peace vigil planned after Sunday’s Iowa City shooting
Reporting by Jessica Rish, Iowa City Press-Citizen / Iowa City Press-Citizen
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
