On Tuesday, April 28, 2009 shortly before 8 pm Waterloo Police officers and Waterloo Fire Rescue personnel were called to Exchange Park at Burton Avenue and Park Road on the report of a large fight involving numerous persons.  Initial reports indicated that baseball bats and knives were involved and one person had been stabbed.

When officers arrived at the park they found three victims suffering from apparent stab wounds.  One of the victims, identified as 18-year-old Kevin Josue Garcia of 916 Dawson Street in Waterloo, died at the scene.  An autopsy by the State Medical Examiner would later show that Garcia died from a single stab wound to the heart.  The other victims, 16-year-old Steven Lamont Perry II of 1217 Parker Street and 16-year-old Bryce Alexander Smith of 800 Dawson Street, both of Waterloo, were taken to Allen Hospital where Smith was treated and released and Perry was hospitalized and then released several days later.

Early in the investigation Investigators received information that 21-year-old Wyatt Chandler Johnson of 1616 Partridge Lane in Waterloo was a person of interest in connection with the stabbings.  A parole violation warrant was issued for Johnson and on Thursday, April 30, 2009 Waterloo Police Investigators traveled to Fort Laramie, Wyoming where Johnson had been arrested on that warrant.  Johnson was then returned to Waterloo where he has been held in the Black Hawk County Jail on the parole violation offense.

On Monday, June 22, 2009 Waterloo Police Investigators charged Wyatt Chandler Johnson with murder in the first degree and two counts of willful injury.  Bond on the first-degree murder offense was set at one million dollars and the willful injury offenses carry a fifty thousand dollar bond each.  All bonds are cash or surety.

Captain John Beckman
Waterloo Police Department
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319-291-4383