ALGONA — The man accused of fatally shooting an Algona police officer last week had his initial appearance in Kossuth County Magistrate Court on Thursday afternoon.

Kyle L. Ricke, 43, of Algona, is being held in the Brown County (Minnesota) Jail on a charge of first-degree murder out of Kossuth County.

Ricke was apprehended in rural Brown County near the town of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, following a four-hour-long manhunt across north central Iowa on Sept. 13.

Earlier in the evening on Sept. 13, Algona Police Officer Kevin Cram, 33, was attempting to serve an arrest warrant on Ricke at 1102 S. Minnesota St. at about 7:30 p.m. According to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, after Cram told Ricke he was there to arrest him, Ricke shot the officer and fled.

After shooting, Ricke allegedly yelled “Too late motherf—” and “I did it cause I am tired of this s-.”

Cram was quickly located by law enforcement and emergency medical services and transported to Kossuth Regional Health Center, where he was pronounced dead.

A massive manhunt for Ricke began immediately and he was eventually taken into custody approximately 110 miles northwest near Sleepy Eye shortly before midnight.

Ricke is still being held in Minnesota awaiting extradition, but on Thursday afternoon appeared via remote video for his initial appearance in Kossuth County for the first-degree murder charge. Ricke appeared before Kossuth County Magistrate Mark J. Laddusaw, who signed the initial arrest warrant for Ricke following the shooting.

The Mason City Public Defender’s Office was appointed to represent Ricke. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 29.

During Thursday’s initial appearance, Laddusaw raised Ricke’s bond from $1 million cash-only to $2 million cash-only. Prosecutor Scott Brown, with the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, had requested the bond be raised to $5 million cash-only because of the severity of the offense and the fact that Ricke had fled the scene.

Brown also noted that the shooting was captured “at least partially, if not fully” on video.

“He is clearly a danger to the community,” Brown said. “He is a danger to any law enforcement, obviously, that comes into contact with him.”

Brown also revealed that the gun used in the shooting has not been located and said the court should presume that Ricke would have access to it if he were released on bond.

A defense attorney for Ricke requested that the bond remain as set.

Laddusaw opted to raise the bond to $2 million cash.

Court documents also give new insight into the arrest warrant that Cram was attempting to serve on Sept. 13.

The DCI previously confirmed that the arrest warrant was for harassment out of Palo Alto County. According to court documents in the Palo Alto case, Ricke was wanted for a charge of third-degree harassment, a simple misdemeanor.

Ricke had allegedly been harassing a former partner with text messages and phone calls between April and August.

Ricke was also charged with third-degree harassment last month in Kossuth County for allegedly doing the same thing to a different ex-partner. He was arrested on Aug. 28 and had his initial appearance in Kossuth County Magistrate Court for that charge on the morning of the Sept. 13 shooting. The no contact order for the Kossuth County harassment charge did not have the “firearms warning” box checked, though the no contact order for the Palo Alto charge, which was filed following the shooting, does have the warning box checked.