An escapee from the Waterloo Residential Correctional Facility has been charged in the shooting death of his brother and the injury of a woman a block away, according to the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier. 23 year old Datarius Spates Jr. has been charged with Willful Injury Causing Serious Injury, Use of a Weapon During a Crime, Felon in Possession of a Firearm, Intimidation With a Weapon, and felony Escape. Spates allegedly escaped the residential correctional facility after staff refused to let him use a phone. He then went to his brother’s house on Mulberry Street. While there Spates and a 15 year old allegedly fired guns from the backyard at an occupied vehicle a block away. The teen was firing an AR-15 while Spates fired a .45 caliber handgun. While they were firing, A’Tarion Spates was accidentally shot and killed and woman on her porch in the next block was hit in the leg. Police say it was the teen who shot both people. Datarius Spates had been serving time for stabbing a man in the stomach in February of 2022. His bond has been set at $75,000.
