Donation Summary: Officer Kevin Cram
The Fallen Officer:
33-year-old Kevin Cram was a police officer for the Algona Police Department in Algona, Iowa.
He was shot and killed while attempting to arrest a man with an active arrest warrant for harassment.
The Circumstance:
On September 13th, 2023, Cram was killed at about 8 pm when he told 43-year-old Kyle Ricke he was going to be arrested. Ricke allegedly shot Cram with a handgun; autopsy photos presented during the trial showed that Officer Cram was shot eight times.
Cram was on patrol Sept. 13, 2023, when he learned of an arrest warrant for Kyle Ricke on a charge of harassment. The officer saw Ricke and told him he would be arrested. That’s when Ricke shot him, according to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. Cram had been with Algona PD since 2015. He was 33.
A jury in Dickinson County took about an hour in July to convict Ricke of first-degree murder. The mandatory sentence in Iowa is life behind bars without parole.
"After he was on the ground, defenseless, you put three more bullets in his back. That is the very definition of a yellow-back shooting coward, and that is you. Even after that act of cowardice was done, you got in your pickup and ran away," said Kevin Cram's father, Mark, at sentencing.
"When they had his autopsy pictures up, you were staring at the floor. You put eight bullets in him, but you weren't able to even look at the damage you caused. Those pictures are forever in our memories. Your name is attached to 46 court records in one capacity or another. At the time you killed Kevin, you were 43 years old. Obviously, you didn't learn from your mistakes like a normal person does.”
Mission Accomplished:
Give Blue Hope was alerted to the incident the day that it occurred. President Curtis DeBerg reached out to the Algona Police Department.
Curtis explained to the Algona Police Department Human Resource Officer that Give Blue Hope exists and was here to help the family during the time of loss.
Curtis explained that the charitable gift of money came from donations nationwide. Because of these wonderful donations Give Blue Hope is able to provide a charitable gift to them. The charitable gift could be spent on food, paying immediate bills or even a mortgage payment, if that's what was needed at the time. The charitable gift does not need to be paid back
Give Blue Hope President Curtis DeBerg issued a check to the family of Officer Kevin Cram in an expedited fashion to help the family as soon as possible.
