Man Arrested After Firing Shots At West Omaha Grocery Store

There were some frightening moments in west Omaha Tuesday night as several calls came in about shots being fired at the Hy-Vee store near 180th and Q.

Omaha Police say an an off-duty officer and a man police are describing as "a heroic customer" took down the shooter together.

OPD Deputy Chief Ken Kanger said after a short scuffle for the gun, they got him under control and made the arrest.

Kanger says a man in his 20's spent about 30 minutes parked in the store's parking lot before shooting at cars in the pharmacy drive-through. He then walked toward the store. "Shot a front window as he entered the store and shot a monitor when he went inside the store," Kanger says.

Kanger isn't sure what the motive was. Employees said the store was busier than a typical Tuesday. Kanger says they feared the worst when they got the call. "It came out as an 'active shooter' after he entered the store. It's one of the obviously more challenging and frightening calls that comes to a community, that comes to the Omaha Police Department. And we’re just extremely fortunate and grateful that there weren’t serious injuries here."

Kanger said two minor injuries were reported. The suspect was transported to the hospital and a woman received minor injuries while leaving the store.

Sean Johnson, an assistant manager at the store described the shooting. ”He started shooting at the cars in the pharmacy lines… he then came into the entryway there, and he was shooting the windows out, and he got into the store," he told 6 News. "That’s when I heard the first shot."

Customer Jason Green and his wife were checking out when he said he saw the man and what police are saying was a semi-automatic handgun.

”He spun around, and it didn’t look like he was targeting anybody," Green told 6 News. "He didn’t have it positioned at anybody. He just had it at his side and was walking in.”

(Photo: 6 News)


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