Urbandale Man in Jail on Kidnapping, Assault Charges

An Urbandale man remains behind bars on kidnapping, assault and theft charges in a case West Des Moines police are calling false imprisonment.

Kourtney Shontez Hall, 24, was charged with third-degree kidnapping, simple assault and second-degree theft after his girlfriend, 45, ran from an apartment building crying “help me” about 10:30 a.m. Sunday, according to a report on file at the West Des Moines Police Department.

Police had been staking out the building in the 4900 block of Woodland Avenue because Hall is a suspect in an earlier incident in which a 40-year-old West Des Moines woman’s apartment window was shot.

In that incident, the woman told police that she and Hall, who both work at a Des Moines strip club, argued and Hall reportedly told the victim that he knew where she lived. Security officers at the strip club told West Des Moines Police Officers Ken Brock and Blain Brinkmeyer that Hall had fired a handgun in the club’s parking lot before leaving in a vehicle that matched the description of the one seen in the vicinity of the victim’s apartment.

Police were dispatched to Hall's co-worker's apartment near 23rd Street and Ashworth Road after a passerby reported hearing what sounded like gunshots in the area. When authorities arrived, they saw two bullet holes in the window of the victim’s second-floor apartment.

Police had been staking out the Woodland Avenue apartment where Hall’s girlfriend lives since about 7 a.m., according to the second police report.

Around 10:30 a.m., Officer Dan Wade said he heard someone unlock the apartment door from the inside before the victim ran out yelling for help.

About 15 minutes later, Hall reportedly told police that he wanted to surrender. He was arrested without incident and taken to the Polk County Jail, where he remains in lieu of $15,300 bond.