Jurors convict Iowa man who fatally shot police officer, captured at relative’s Minnesota home

Jurors have convicted a northern Iowa man of first-degree murder for shooting a police officer to death and fleeing to Minnesota, where he was captured.

Kyle Lou Ricke, 43, was found guilty Thursday in Kossuth County District Court in connection with the shooting of 33-year-old Algona police officer Kevin Cram on Sept. 13. Ricke faces life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 21.

Cram was shot while trying to arrest Ricke on a warrant concerning a harassment charge in Palo Alto County. Cram was taken by emergency medical responders to a hospital in Algona, where he died.

Ricke, of Algona, was captured without incident four hours later roughly 110 miles from the shooting scene near Sleepy Eye, Minn., at a family member’s residence.

Prosecutors said Ricke shot Cram eight times. He allegedly told his sister days before the shooting that he would not go back to jail.

Defense attorney Barbara Westphal contended the Ricke did not plan to shoot the officer.

‘’Mr. Ricke did not have the mindset to reflect on what he was doing. He was acting out of instinct,’’ Westphal said. ‘’He did not have the time to ponder what he was doing.’’

Cram was a 10-year police veteran who worked in Algona for eight years. He started his career in North Springs, Iowa.

The Algona officer’s death is among 12 instances in the past 15 months that law enforcement officers have been killed or wounded by gunfire in or near Minnesota.

May 30: Minneapolis police officer Jamal Mitchell, 36, was shot to death during a gun battle in south Minneapolis. Mitchell’s killer, 35-year-old Mustafa Ahmed Mohamed, was shot to death by another Minneapolis officer.

April 10: Hennepin County sheriff’s deputy Christopher Heihn was shot during an exchange of gunfire in Minnetonka with 28-year-old Clint Hoyhtya while several deputies were attempting to serve a warrant. Deputy Keith McNamara was struck by shrapnel. Hoyhtya was killed.

March 1: Two people were charged with firing a rifle toward Ramsey County deputy Joe Kill during a car chase, piercing Kill’s vehicle and striking his ballistic vest with debris or shrapnel. Kill was taken to the hospital for an evaluation and released the same day.

Feb. 18: In Burnsville, police officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, both 27, and firefighter/paramedic Adam Finseth, 40, were shot and killed at a home early in the morning after an hourslong standoff following a domestic abuse call. The gunman, 38-year-old Shannon Gooden, then killed himself.

2023

Dec. 7: St. Paul police officer Michael Tschida was shot in the leg during an exchange of gunfire with Brandon Daleshaun Keys, 24, of Maplewood, who was killed.

Oct. 12: In Glenwood Township near Princeton, five officers with a search warrant were shot during an exchange of gunfire with a man who was inside his home with numerous guns. The suspect, 65-year-old Karl Thomas Holmberg, was wounded before his apprehension and charged with six counts each of attempted murder and first-degree assault of a police officer.

Aug. 11: Minneapolis police officer Jacob Spies was shot and wounded by automatic gunfire while in an unmarked car pursuing a robbery suspect on the North Side. Four people were arrested that night.

July 14: Fargo police officer Jake Wallin, 23, was killed and two fellow officers and a civilian were wounded by gunfire from Mohamad Barakat, 37, of Fargo. A fourth officer shot and killed Barakat.

May 6: In western Wisconsin, St. Croix County sheriff’s deputy Kaitlin “Kaitie” Leising, 29, was fatally shot just outside of Glenwood. Leising was answering a call about a drunken driver stuck in a ditch. The suspect, Jeremiah D. Johnson, 34, of Shakopee, was found dead nearby with a gun close to his body.

April 15: In western Minnesota, Pope County sheriff’s deputy Joshua Owen was killed on his 44th birthday while responding to a domestic dispute call. Two other officers were wounded. The suspected shooter, Bryan Nygard, 34, of Cyrus, Minn., died when officers returned fire.

April 8: In western Wisconsin, two police officers were shot and killed in Barron County during a traffic stop in Cameron: officers Emily Breidenbach, 32, of the Chetek Police Department, and Hunter Scheel, 23, of the Cameron Police Department. The suspect, Glenn Douglas Perry, 50, of New Auburn, Wis., died in an exchange of gunfire.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.