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Police: Suspect was supposed to be taken to mental ward
PARKERSBURG (AP) — Police say a 24-year-old man charged with murdering a prominent Iowa high school football coach was supposed to be taken to taken to a hospital psychiatric ward after taking a baseball bat to a Cedar Rapids home Saturday night and leading police on a car chase.

Cedar Falls Police Chief Jeff Olson says Butler County Sheriff’s deputies were supposed to take Mark Becker to a hospital psychiatric unit after the Saturday night incident.

Olson says Becker was released at some point but that his department wasn’t notified.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the deputies took Becker to the hospital. The Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the matter.

Becker is charged with first-degree murder in this morning’s slaying of Aplington-Parkersburg High School football coach Ed Thomas. Authorities say Becker, a former player, walked into the high school weight room and unloaded several shots into Thomas in front of some current players.

Becker was charged Monday with eluding police pursuit.