A Hooper man has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound following a standoff with law enforcement Monday afternoon near Prescott, Iowa.
Steven T. Sapp, 45, was wanted as a suspect in a robbery Monday afternoon at the Iowa State Savings Bank in Lenox. Prescott is about 12 miles from Lenox.
The robbery occurred at about 1:36 p.m. Within 15 minutes, police identified the suspect on a motorcycle. Authorities said Sapp then went into a farm field, abandoned the bike and started running.
Union County Sheriff’s deputies and other law enforcement agencies established a perimeter. Communication was made with Sapp via a speaker in a drone. At about 3 p.m., a gunshot was heard and Sapp was later discovered with a fatal wound to the head.
Sapp had a history of run-ins with law enforcement.
In March of 2008, Sapp, then a resident of Tarkio, Missouri, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the stabbing death of Steven A. Leach in Pickering, Missouri. Prior to Leach’s death, Sapp had served a seven-year state prison sentence for a felony conviction of receiving stolen property.
In 2013, Sapp was convicted for his role in a robbery of a Tecumseh Pizza Hut that occurred 26 days prior to Leach’s death. He was also convicted of assaulting two of three female workers. His accomplice, Travis Stewart, served more than nine years in prison for the crime.
Sapp also served nine years of a 21-year sentence and was released from prison in September of 2022.
