Omaha Target shooting suspect had 13 loaded magazines when he started firing at Nebraska mega store before being shot dead by cops as he fired first rounds off.
He meant business. A mass shooting tragedy at an Omaha, Nebraska Target store was averted on Tuesday when quick responding police shot and killed a white male armed with an AR-15 style rifle began firing rounds inside the mega store.
In a statement, Nebraska police who declined to publicly identify the gunman, said to be in his 30’s- no injuries were reported among workers or shoppers when the gunman walked into the outlet and proceeded to fire rounds just before noon according to the Omaha Police Dept.
A potential massacre was averted when the first cops responding to the scene quickly shot and killed the unidentified man, said Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer.
‘Officers issued numerous loud verbal commands ordering the suspect to drop the rifle. An Omaha Police officer then fired their service handgun striking the suspect who was declared deceased by Omaha Fire Department personnel as a result of the incident,’ Omaha police said in a release.
While no one was injured, Schmaderer acknowledged the situation could have been dire with the the shooter equipped with ‘plenty of ammunition.’ Evidence indicates the gunman firing off multiple rounds. It continued to remain unknown if the gunman fired at anyone, the police chief said.
‘Where do I hide?’
Schmaderer said the man entered the store armed with the gun and ‘plenty of ammunition’ and began firing rounds. Police received more than two dozen 911 calls for an active shooter at the store, and multiple shell casings were found at the scene, police said.
The suspect had 13 loaded magazines, according to the police department, ABC News reported.
It is unknown at this time if the suspect was firing at anybody, Schmaderer said.
One Target employee told the Omaha World-Herald that he heard multiple shots.
Another witness, who declined to give her name, was shopping in the toy department when she heard gunshots.
‘I heard three shots. Everyone was in a panic. We all ran out of the store,’ the patron told the outlet.
The terror of someone shooting off rounds sent shoppers into a panic.
The nation’s first mass shooting last year happened on Jan 23. By the same date this year, the nation had six mass shootings, leaving 39 people dead, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University. https://t.co/MsGS9Ow9ga
— Spectrum Bay News 9 (@BN9) January 29, 2023
44 mass shootings year to date in U.S
One customer inside the Target store when rounds went off said the scene was ‘sheer panic.’ When Cathy Mahannah first heard a banging sound, she thought something had fallen until she saw dozens of people sprinting to the exit.
‘The moments in that parking lot were terrifying when I heard the shots and thought, ‘Where do I hide? I don’t know what to do.’ the 62-year-old grandmother said according to KMTV.
Amid the ensuing panic and confusion, Mahannah told of jumping into a car with a stranger.
Adding, ‘I don’t wanna go in that store again for a long time. It was, it was, like traumatic I felt like. I’m pretty sure everyone who was in there is feeling the same way right now.’
Omaha police in a statement thanked ‘brave’ Target employees who recently underwent active shooter training and ‘assisted in getting shoppers out of the store.’
The store will be closed until further notice according to a Target spokesperson.
‘We are partnering with the Omaha PD as we learn more,’ the spokesperson said.
No known motive was immediately known.
Gun Violence Archive – which counts shootings where four or more people are killed or injured, excluding the gunman – has tracked 44 such incidents in the US with over 70 dead since the start of the year.
