Authorities in Iowa have called for a manhunt after two police officers were killed in seperate ambush attacks early Wednesday morning while sitting in their patrol cars.

The shootings occured 20 mintues apart near Des Moines. One Des Moines police officer and another from the suburb of Urbandale were found in their bullet-riddled cruisers, Des Moines police Sgt. Paul Parizek said.

There's somebody out there shooting police. There is a clear and present danger to police officers right now, he said. Police are working to determine if there is one gunman. One person who was identified as a witness described a pickup truck with a topper. In all appearances it looks just like that, that these officers were ambushed, Parizek said. It doesn't look like there was any interaction between these cowards and the officers they shot in their cars.

Urbandale Sgt. Chad Underwood said his officers are equipped with body cameras, but they are not always on. Schools in Urbandale were closed Wednesday. Des Moines police said in a news release earlier that officers responded to a report of shots fired at the intersection of 70th Street and Aurora Avenue at 1:06 a.m., and the first officers to arrive on scene found an Urbandale officer dying of gunshot wounds.

Des Moines police officers responded to assist and just 20 minutes later, a Des Moines officer was found fatally shot at an intersection about two blocks away.