Rapper, 49, was escorting 18-yr-old gang member out of Iowa school when teen ‘opened fire’

An 18-year-old Iowa gang member has been charged with two counts of murder after taking a gun into a school founded by a local rapper for at-risk youth, and shooting dead a 16-year-old and 18-year-old from rival gangs.

Preston Walls cut off his GPS ankle monitor – which he was wearing following weapons charges – 16 minutes before entering Starts Right Here in Des Moines, police said.

Will Keeps, a Chicago-born rapper who joined the city’s gangs at the age of 13, then moved to Des Moines and became a community activist and founded the school, saw Walls enter.

Keeps saw the 9mm handgun with an extended ammunition magazine which Walls – described by police as a known gang member – was carrying, and escorted Walls out the building.

But Walls then turned and shot at the two teenagers. Both were severely wounded, and died in hospital; Keeps was also critically injured and remains in hospital.

Preston Walls, 18, was charged on Monday night with double murder; he was also charged with attempted murder after he shot at Will Keeps, a 49-year-old rapper who founded the school

Police K-9s are seen tracking Walls, who got out of a car when stopped by police and ran

Walls then ran off, and got into a car. Police tracked the car, and arrested two inside: Walls ran off again, and was tracked down by police K-9 and arrested.

Walls was charged on Monday night with two counts of first degree murder, attempted murder, and participation in a criminal gang.

Officers said the victims were targeted and that ‘there was nothing random’ about the attack. 

Emergency services transport one of the people shot at the Starts Right Here school

A swarm of police cars on scene outside the Starts Right Here in Des Moines on Monday

A car matching witness descriptions was stopped by police at about 1:20pm two miles from the school. 

Three suspects – including Walls were apprehended after one tried to flee from the car.

A witness who works next door to Starts Right Here said she saw somebody running from the building after the shooting while police pursued them.

‘We just saw a lot of cop cars pouring in from everywhere,’ witness Nicole Krantz told the Des Moines Register.

‘It’s terrifying. We’re all worried. We went on lockdown, obviously. 

‘We were all told to stay away from the windows because we weren’t sure if they caught the guy,’ Krantz said. 

Sgt Paul Parizek, a spokesman for Des Moines police, said they were yet to confirm a motive.

‘We’ve got two people dead, so we’re looking at the most serious charges,’ he said.

‘The incident was definitely targeted. 

‘It was not random. There’s nothing random about this. It was certainly a targeted incident. 

But as far as getting motive, that is something that we are going to try and figure out.’

Kim Reynolds, the governor of Iowa, who is on the school advisory board, said she was devastated by the shooting and praised the school president, Will Keeps.

‘I am shocked and saddened to hear about the shooting at Starts Right Here,’ she wrote in a statement. 

‘I’ve seen first-hand how hard Will Keeps and his staff works to help at-risk kids through this alternative education program. 

‘My heart breaks for them, these kids and their families. Kevin and I are praying for their safe recovery.’

Keeps, who was born on the South Side of Chicago, founded the school in a bid to help Iowa youngsters avoid making his own mistake, and getting involved in gang violence.

‘He wanted to make a change for others so they don’t have to go through life without feeling cared for, loved, or being in a home where they can feel safe,’ his website states. 

‘His legacy started with giving back to his community and to youth who are faced with similar situations that he was in. 

‘He began mentoring youth on a daily basis as a team member of the ManUp Iowa program for at risk youth. 

‘Will found that his true God given abilities were helping others and empowering them to go down a better path…one he wishes he would have had the opportunity to go down when he was younger.’

Police are seen responding to the school in downtown Des Moines on Monday afternoon

Ambulances are seen outside the school in Des Moines on Monday afternoon

The school is seen cordoned off on Monday, after the shooting dead of two students

Keeps was sexually abused by his step-father aged seven, and said the abuse led him on a downward spiral.

‘In Will’s journey to find answers, he learned that what he really wanted was a loving father and mother that would protect him and love him unconditionally,’ the website states. 

‘Just like many other young teenage boys in similar situations, they did not find that love in their own home, so they look for that love and protection in the form of a gang.’

Keeps joined The Blackstone Gang, which in the 1960s was the most famous in Chicago. The group today has an estimated 6,000 members.

‘I thought the streets was my family,’ he said, as one of the presenters at the Register’s Storytellers Project in 2018, according to the Des Moines Register. 

‘I thought these people on the streets would have my back more than my own family would. 

‘I thought that they would protect me more than my own family would.’

He saw a friend fatally shot and suffered a beating that nearly killed him, leaving him angry and aggressive, he said.

Keeps said his children asked him to write a song about ‘what’s going on in the community,’ and he said the request proved a turning point.

He wrote a song that was about ‘opening up people on each side to listen to and understand each other,’ and said it urged him to work to bring about change.

‘You see, when I subtracted negativity from my life and added hope and multiplied that to the people around me, I saw the division in my city start to fade,’ he said. 

‘That helped me have more of a positive influence in my community.’

He is yet to comment on the shooting. 

Des Moines Public Schools also released a statement. 

‘We are saddened to learn of another act of gun violence, especially one that impacts an organization that works closely with some of our students. 

‘We are still waiting to learn more details, but our thoughts are with any victims of this incident and their families and friends. 

‘Starts Right Here is a valuable partner to DMPS, doing important work to help us re-engage students, and we stand by to support them during this critical time.’

Mike Beranek, president of Iowa State Education Association, called for more effective prevention of gun violence in educational settings.

‘Tragedy has once again struck close to home. Our hearts go out to the victims, families, and school community at Starts Right Here as they endure the unthinkable,’ Beranek said in a statement. 

‘We implore our elected leaders to consider effective strategies to eliminate gun violence and pursue concrete solutions that will keep our students, educators, and communities safe. 

‘Our schools need to be bastions of safety, not the recipients of violence. 

‘This needs to end. 

‘As a nation we need to recognize this is societal issue seeping into our schools.’