Honoring Fallen Heroes: 2 Iowa Police Officers

Two Iowa police officers were found dead early this morning after what appeared to be an "ambush" style attack.Both officers were fatally shot in their squad cars at two different intersections in the area, between 1 and 2 AM. After following leads and tips, police officers identified 46-year-old Scott Michael Green as a person of interest. He was taken into custody at approximately 9:30 AM.

The scene of the first shooting at 70th and Aurora where an officer was found shot early Wed morning. Some officers in combat gear here. pic.twitter.com/SJEUY4B3gh

— Brian Powers (@bpowersphoto) November 2, 2016

Green was described as being "armed and dangerous" prior to his arrest and was found walking alone down a road.An 8 AM press conference did not reveal the names of the officers, nor any potential motivations for their murders. Sgt. Paul Parizek with the Urbandale PD gave the following statement while holding back tears, "On the surface right now ... it doesn't look like there was any interaction between these officers and whoever the coward is that shot them while they sat in their cars... In all appearances it looks ... that these officers were ambushed."

"...there is clearly danger if you're a police officer," Parizek stated prior to Green's arrest. "These guys were gunned down sitting in their car, doing nothing wrong. So, there's definitely some danger out there. There's somebody out there shooting police officers. We hope we find him before anybody else gets hurt."Both shootings took place near Urbandale High School, which has canceled classes for the day.These deaths bring the total number of officers shot dead in 2016 to 51, in the US and Puerto Rico. That's the highest number recorded since 2011, when the total was 73.Parizek states that in spite of these needless deaths, the department has banded together more than ever."This is what we do. We come in, day in, day out. We go out there and we provide the same level of service regardless of what's going on in our personal or professional lives... We know we've got the best community."Our thoughts go out to the families and friends affected by these losses.