Melvin Eugene Nagle

How they died

Deadly force

Several officers responded at around 5 p.m. to reports that Melvin Eugene Nagle pulled a handgun on a neighbor who confronted him about messing with their fence outside Van Meter near the Wildwood Estates. Police said Nagle approached the officers wearing a bulletproof vest and pointing a 9 mm handgun. Adel officer John Sparling, state trooper Randy Wacha, and DCSD deputies Jeremy Sprague and Ryan Bowers shot and killed Nagle when he allegedly refused to drop his gun and kept advancing toward them. Nagle's relatives said he'd been drinking and was upset that his divorce had become final earlier in the week.

Why we remember them

This record exists so that Melvin Eugene Nagle, and all who are named in this archive, are never reduced to a number.

References & sources