DES MOINES, Iowa — An Iowa man charged in the killings of two police officers was facing intense money problems, had been found by a judge to hit and financially exploit his mother and was ordered to move out of her basement hours before the shootings.

Scott Michael Greene, 46, was arrested Thursday afternoon after detectives questioned him at the Des Moines police station. Greene was secured with the handcuffs that had belonged to the patrolmen who were killed in ambush-style attacks, Des Moines Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Urbandale officer Justin Martin, and was later booked.

Greene was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. If convicted, he would receive an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole. A statement from Des Moines police said the investigation has produced probable cause to support the charges.

Police said earlier Thursday that a search dog recovered a high-powered rifle in a wooded area that they believe Greene used to fire on the officers. Greene had been hospitalized for treatment of a pre-existing medical condition following his surrender. He left the hospital Thursday. Greene, an unemployed father who lived in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale, was behaving erratically and was increasingly desperate for money, court records show.

District Judge Carla Schemmel ruled Tuesday that Greene had committed elder abuse against his 66-year-old mother, Patricia Greene, by “physically hitting and financially exploiting” her. She ordered him to move out of his mother’s home, where he had been living in a basement bedroom, before Nov. 6 and to stay away from the home for a year.

Patricia Greene had applied for the restraining order Oct. 19, two days after she was arrested and charged with striking her son in the face during an altercation that he recorded with his cell phone.

She wrote in the application that she believed her son “set me up to get me in trouble.” Patricia Greene wrote that while she was in jail, Scott Greene told one of her friends that Patricia Greene needed to give him $20,000 and that if his mother paid, “he would move and not bother” her.