DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Attorney General’s Office announced on Monday that the Des Moines officers who shot and killed a man in February were legally justified.

On the evening of February 6, Des Moines Police Department narcotics officers were surveilling a woman’s vehicle as part of a drug investigation. According to the AG’s report, the woman parked her vehicle at a gas station and a man, who was masked, exited the car with a duffle bag. The narcotics officers watched the man, later identified as 43-year-old David Leroy Kintz Jr., walk away from the area on foot and requested patrol officers to make contact with him, the report says.

Two officers, identified as Senior Police Officer Neal Shaffer and Senior Police Officer Titus DeFord, arrived at the scene and made contact with Kintz in the 1200 block of Maury Street. The AG’s report says the officers told Kintz they were responding to a call reporting a suspicious man wearing a mask in the area. Kintz told the officers that he had COVID and then offered to have the officers search his duffle bag.

Officer DeFord began a search of Kintz’s person, and felt object in one of his pockets, which Kintz claimed was a screwdriver. According to the report, Kintz grabbed the screwdriver from his pocket and lunged at Officer Shaffer, stabbing at his head and neck with the pointed end of the screwdriver. The report said that despite Officer Shaffer trying to back away from the attack, Kintz continued to lunge at both Officer Shaffer and Officer DeFord, resulting in both officers shooting at Kintz.

Kintz was transported to a hospital, but later died from his injuries.

According to the AG’s report, at the time of the shooting, Kintz had an arrest warrant out for a parole violation. The report also claims that Kintz had told his family that he wouldn’t go back to prison and that if an officer stopped him, he would stab them and make them kill him.

During the investigation into the shooting, it was discovered that in 2023 Kintz was a passenger in a vehicle involved in a traffic stop in Des Moines. The AG’s report states that during the stop Kintz brandished a hunting-style knife at the officers. Kintz allegedly refused to listen to officer commands and at one point told officers to kill him before he was tased and taken into custody, the report states.

The AG ruled that officers Shaffer and DeFord were legally justified in the fatal shooting of Kintz.

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