Photo: Douglas County Sheriff's Office
(Omaha, NE) -- The Douglas County Sheriff's Department makes an arrest in connection to an August shooting.
DCSO says the night of August 22nd, deputies were called to the area of 162nd and Butler Avenue to investigate a shooting. Once on the scene, deputies located a male victim who had sustained a single gunshot wound to the chest. A female victim was located with the man and had suffered minor injuries in the incident. Investigator say both victims were seated in a parked vehicle at a public park, when they were shot at by the suspect.
The sheriff's office says based on a review of video evidence, and other investigative avenues, deputies identified the suspect in the case as Manuel Mata. Investigators also discovered that on the night of the shooting, Mata had been viewing video from a neighbor app depicting suspects from recent vehicle break-ins. Investigators found evidence to indicate that Mata approached the victims in their vehicle, mistakenly believing they were associated to the recent break-ins. DCSO says during the brief interactions between Mata and the victims, Mata fired a gun at the victim’s vehicle, ultimately hitting the male occupant.
On Friday, December 10th, deputies and members of the Metro Fugitive Task Force located and arrested Mata at his home. He was booked at Douglas County Corrections on charges of Assault 1st Degree, Attempted Assault 1st Degree and Use of a Deadly Weapon to Commit a Felony.