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Keokuk County, Iowa, and the law enforcement community worldwide lost one of their own this week. Deputy Eric Stein lost his life in the line of duty in a shootout west of Sigourney on Monday.
The last Iowa law enforcement officer who died in the line of duty was Officer Sean Wissink of the Des Moines Police Department in 2007. Marion County Sheriff Ron Goemaat says every law enforcement officer recognizes that possibility each time they put on their badge and strap on a gun. He says that despite extensive training to prepare for those kinds of situations, when it happens it is always a surprise.
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Marion County has lost two officers in its history. In 1967 Marion County Sheriff’s Deputy Harold Gates was killed in a shootout in Pella, and in 1980 Pella officer John Van Haaften was shot and killed while on an undercover assignment in Knoxville.