Anthony Jacobs, a 27-year-old Black man, was killed during an outbreak of gunfire in Waterloo, Iowa, early on May 29, 2022. At approximately 2:31 a.m., Waterloo police received several reports of shots being fired in the 700 block of West First Street. When officers reached the area, they found Jacobs and another man suffering from gunshot wounds after what investigators described in early reporting as an altercation that escalated into shooting.
Waterloo Fire Rescue rushed both victims to separate hospitals. Jacobs was taken to Allen Hospital, where medical personnel attempted to save him, but he later died from his injuries. The second victim, identified as Devonte Oneal, was transported to MercyOne for treatment. Oneal survived and was eventually released from the hospital. Reports indicated that Jacobs had been shot in the neck, although authorities released few additional details about the number of shots fired, the weapon used or the precise sequence of events that led to the confrontation.
Jacobs's death became one of several firearm-related incidents that Waterloo police were confronting during the same period. Investigators processed the West First Street scene, interviewed potential witnesses and appealed to anyone with knowledge of the shooting to contact the Waterloo Police Department or Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers. The presence of a surviving wounded man gave detectives a possible witness to the events, but police did not publicly disclose what Oneal told investigators or clarify whether he had been an intended target, a participant in the altercation or a bystander caught in the gunfire.
Publicly available reporting does not identify a named suspect in Jacobs's killing, and no verified announcement of an arrest, murder charge, trial or conviction connected specifically to his death could be located. Authorities did not publicly describe a motive or release a detailed account identifying who produced a firearm and opened fire. The investigation therefore remained dependent on witness cooperation and information from people who were near the 700 block of West First Street during the early morning hours.
Jacobs was remembered online by people who knew him as "Ant" and "Buddy." Memorial information described him as having attended Castle Hill, Longfellow, Central and East schools and as having worked as a food server at Red Lobster. Those personal details stood in sharp contrast to the limited official information surrounding his final moments: a late-night confrontation, sudden gunfire, two wounded men and a homicide investigation that produced no publicly identified shooter.
With no publicly announced suspect or prosecution, Jacobs's death appears to remain unresolved in available public records. Police continued to ask anyone with information to come forward, leaving unanswered the central questions of what caused the altercation, who fired the fatal shot and why the confrontation ended with Jacobs dying at a hospital while the other wounded man survived.
