A 28-year-old Solon Springs man is accused of shooting a Superior police officer after crashing a van into a middle school early Sunday.
Prosecutors charged Dylan Charles Edward Wallace with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, strangulation and suffocation, criminal damage to property, and discharging a firearm in a school zone, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.
Around 2:31 a.m., a Superior officer responded to a report at a nursing home on the 1600 block of North 37th Street. The caller said a woman—who had just arrived there—may have been strangled by Wallace and had exited a white van before entering the facility.
The woman later told police she had been dating Wallace since September. She said they were drinking at a bar Saturday night when an argument escalated. According to the complaint, she said they left in his Dodge Challenger and “believed they got into an accident somewhere,” but couldn’t recall where.
Wallace told investigators he had driven his car onto a snowbank, then ran home to get his van to return to the accident scene and pick her up. Court documents say the woman refused to get in the van, told him “We’re done,” and said Wallace choked her twice before she left for the nursing home.
According to the complaint, Wallace returned home after she left. He told police he “grabbed [his] guns and lost [his] s***.” He then left his home armed with those guns.
When the officer responding to the reported strangulation stopped Wallace’s van at Tower Avenue and North 37th Street, gunfire erupted. Body camera footage captured gunshots as the officer exited their squad car. Wallace “repeatedly” fired a rifle at the officer, the complaint states. The officer returned fire with their handgun before calling for medics.
According to court documents, Wallace shot the officer in the right arm, and another bullet struck the officer’s radio and bulletproof vest. The officer was hospitalized and later released. Police recovered a rifle near the officer’s squad vehicle.
After the shooting, Wallace drove to Superior Middle School and crashed the van into the front entrance. Officers surrounded the building and set up a perimeter.
Wallace surrendered several hours later. While being taken into custody, he asked a sheriff’s deputy, “Is the cop I shot at ok?” according to the complaint.
Surveillance video inside the school showed Wallace carrying both a rifle and a handgun. He told investigators he did not intend to target the school and thought it was “a nice place to hide.” When asked about his intentions once inside, he said he assumed officers would “come in and kill him or something.”
Investigators later learned Wallace appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound that did not strike any vital organs. He also admitted to drinking “a lot” before the incident.
If convicted on all counts, Wallace faces up to nearly 80 years in prison.
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