Enraged family members joined protesters in the streets of downtown Davenport, Iowa, on Tuesday morning to protest the city’s response to the partial collapse of an apartment building on Sunday evening—claiming officials rushed to demolish the remaining apartments despite five residents being unaccounted for.
The city planned to demolish the building on Tuesday morning but paused the plan on Monday night after a 52-year-old woman, Lisa Brooks, was rescued from an upper floor. Brooks was spotted popping her head out a window and waving on Monday night, reportedly after she sheltered under a couch for more than a day.
Brooks’ rescue came mere hours before the building was set to be torn down, and around a day after cops insisted to reporters that the building was empty and all residents were accounted for.
How Brooks fell through the cracks is a mystery, Davenport Mayor Mike Matson conceded in a press conference Tuesday.
“How did she get there? And why wasn’t she found earlier?” Matson said. “I am totally transparent with you. I do not know—we do not know.”
After initially insisting everyone was accounted for, Davenport Police Chief Jeff Bladel said Tuesday that cops now believe there are five people missing.
Bladel didn’t name those missing, but protesters amplified calls from family members that two men—Branden Colvin and Ryan Hitchcock—were still trapped inside with their conditions unknown.
Hundreds convened near the building to protest on Tuesday morning. Videos showed them chanting criticism at authorities for rushing to demolish, at cops for inaccurately declaring the apartments as empty, and at the failures surrounding the building’s maintenance.
At the protest, Mike Collier reportedly said through a bullhorn that his cousin, Colvin, was supposed to go to a family cookout on Sunday night, but he never made it. The white furniture that was once in his apartment was now visible from the street.
“Branden was supposed to go to my auntie’s for a cookout,” Collier said, the Quad-City Times reported. “He never showed up. We know he was in his apartment.”
Collier claimed that Colvin’s neighbor spoke to him Sunday, just before the building began to crumble. He hasn’t been heard from since.
Another man, who told local reporters he’s related to Hitchcock, was stopped by cops as he tried to rush into the rubble. He told the Times the city has “no right” to demolish the building already.
Amy Anderson, identified as Hitchcock’s cousin, told the Times that cops were able to ping Hitchcock’s phone inside the building, but it’s since stopped responding.
Anderson said Hitchcock lived in Apt. 208 of the six-story building, which was built in 1907 to be a hotel.
“There is no chance for him to survive this,” Anderson said.
Brooks was the ninth person to be rescued from the building when she was extracted on Monday night, around 24 hours after the collapse. City officials said in a news release they’d abandoned rescue efforts—which included K9 units, cops and firefighters searching—at 9:30 a.m. Monday.
The area was then prepped for a swift demolition. Officials said in a release late Monday night that what’s left of the structure “remains in imminent danger of collapse” and that the building’s condition is “continuing to worsen.”
Lexus Berry, a 27-year-old resident, told NBC News that she could tell the building was having structural issues just before it collapsed, saying she heard “crackling sounds.”
Berry said she and her wife picked up their cats just before the building gave way. The duo survived, but only after Berry feared they may have died.
“And then it was just white, just like that,” Berry said of the collapse. “And it was one of those moments where I was like, did I just die? Because how bright it was. But it was the sun beaming.”
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