Iowa tight end Noah Fant’s return home to Omaha, Nebraska for the summer became a lot more newsworthy than he would have liked this week.
According to a local police report, Des Moines TV station 13WHO reports that Fant was approached by a area man on Tuesday night who pointed a handgun at the sophomore football player and told him to leave the area:Fant left the park and called police. He initially told them he didn’t want to press charges but said if police were able to find him he would. He told officers he believed the suspect lived in a house near the park because he’d seen the man before in the area.
As officers were searching the area near the park they spotted a man matching the description provided by Fant run into a home. Police were able to talk to the man’s mother who convinced him to come to the door. Officers reported the man, 23-year-old Matthew Trimble, was heavily intoxicated and placed him in the back of their cruiser for their own safety. Trimble’s mother says her son told her that he had confronted a group he believed to be smoking marijuana in the park. She agreed to turn over his handgun to officers. Police say the gun was loaded with one round in the chamber and 11 in the magazine.
Trimble was later charged with one count of Making a Terroristic Threat with a Firearm after Fant identified that he was in fact the one who pulled the gun on him.
Luckily Fant (or anyone else) was not injured in the incident and everything eventually played out somewhat peacefully. The Omaha native caught nine passes for 70 yards and one touchdown last season for the Hawkeyes and is expected to return to the team later on.
School officials did not release a statement on the incident involving Fant but did tell Landof10 that they were looking into the matter as of Thursday evening.