Iowa authorities investigate murder of 19-year-old at Taylor County bar

CLEARFIELD, Iowa (WOWT) – Authorities in Taylor County, Iowa are investigating after a 19-year-old man was shot and killed early Thursday morning.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation reports that Taylor County dispatchers received multiple reports of shots fired around 3:20 a.m. Officers responded to the Bootleggers Bar and Grill on Broadway Street in Clearfield. A male victim was found unconscious on the ground with a gunshot wound to the head.

The deputy who filed the report claims in an arrest affidavit that he saw a man, later identified as the suspect, standing by the SUV near the victim’s body. He reportedly admitted to being the shooter; the deputy detained him and transported him to the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office. In addition to several witnesses at the scene who told deputies they saw the suspect shoot and kill the victim, he admitted to a DCI agent that he killed 19-year-old Colby Nelson of Lenox. It turned out that the two men had had a disagreement at a bar earlier that evening that escalated into an argument when the shooter tried to leave.

The suspect, identified as Alan Schultz, 37, of Bedford, left the bar on his motorcycle and returned with a loaded handgun in another vehicle. Schultz allegedly confronted Nelson twice before shooting him in the face, unloading the handgun and waiting for deputies to arrive. He was booked into the Taylor County Jail on a charge of first-degree murder.

Alan Schultz, 37(Taylor County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa)

Nelson’s autopsy will be performed by the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny.

The investigation is ongoing, and Iowa DCI does not plan to release further information at this time.