Des Moines police officer shot in head by suspect released from hospital

A Des Moines police officer who was shot in the head by a suspect , whom police later killed, has been released from the hospital.

Senior police officer Cade Moritz was released from MercyOne Medical Center on Tuesday and moved into a rehab program. Fellow officers and family surrounded him as he walked out of the hospital.

Moritz was joined by senior police officer Jacob Boekhoff, who was shot in the arm during the incident and released from the hospital last week . He is continuing his recovery at home.

Both Moritz and Boekhoff have been with the Police Department since 2022.

Moritz was seriously wounded around 1:40 a.m. Sept. 16, when Des Moines Police Department officers attempted to pull over a car near the 2500 block of Easton Boulevard for an equipment violation. The suspect, Joshua Dean Green, 37, of Carlisle, allegedly stopped in a parking lot before speeding away from the officers.

About 20 seconds later, Green crashed his 2005 Ford Focus near the intersection of East 24th Street and Easton Boulevard . The officers blocked the vehicle and provided instructions to the suspect to turn off and exit the car.

Officers attempted to arrest Green, but he "violently" struggled with them. During the struggle, the suspect took out a handgun and began to fire at the officers, who returned fire and killed him.

There were four officers at the scene; Moritz did not have an opportunity to return fire. All four are on administrative duty, per police protocol after an officer involved 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, @rishjessica_

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines police officer shot in head by suspect released from hospital