Seven people, including four children, were shot and killed by a neighbor at a Nebraska home Friday night, according to authorities, who said the crime could potentially be racially motivated.
Around 4:33 p.m., multiple 911 calls were placed reporting an active shooter situation in the 1200 block of Crestline Drive in Crete, a city in southeastern Nebraska, Nebraska State Patrol Col. John Bolduc said at a news briefing Saturday. Local officers and deputies responded to the scene, where gunshots could still be heard, including a single shot coming from a home across the street.
About 15 people were in the home at the time of the shooting, most of whom were outside in the yard, according to a news release. At least one of the victims was inside the home. It is not yet clear who was a resident and who was visiting.
“It was quickly determined that all of the gunfire was coming from a single residence at 1810 Parkland Street,” Bolduc said, adding that a SWAT team responded to the home to apprehend what appeared to be “a barricaded subject.”
The SWAT team entered the home around 6:40 p.m., where they found the 74-year-old suspect, Billy Booth, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A shotgun was found near Booth’s body, Bolduc said.
“The preliminary investigation shows that all of the bullets fired by Booth came from inside his home,” Bolduc said. “Investigators are still actively working on this investigation to understand everything that happened, but at this point, we do not believe there was any verbal contact between the suspect and any of the victims in the moments leading up to the shooting.”
Three of the victims found at the scene were adults, ages 22 to 43. Four were children, ages 3 to 10, Bolduc said. Crete Police Chief Gary Young Jr. said all of the victims were Hispanic.
Six victims were initially taken to hospitals, and a seventh was found injured later in the evening, state police said. Four people have been released from the hospital, and three are still receiving treatment, including two at a children’s hospital. All are expected to survive.
There was a history between the suspect and the victims’ families, according to Bolduc. Crete Police have responded to “several complaints” since 2021, most of which came from Booth regarding “driving behavior” in the neighborhood, according to Young, who also spoke at the press conference.
“Not necessarily associated with the victims’ home, but speeding cars in the neighborhood, improper parking, nuisance properties, quality of life issues,” Young said. “There was one report from the victims that the suspect had freaked them out, told them to ‘Go home’ or ‘Go back where you came from,’ to ‘Speak English.'”
A police officer who interviewed the family and the suspect at the time was ready to escalate the matter, but the family refused, saying they would contact police, Young said.
“That resolved the situation, so we had no further contact,” Young said.
When asked if there could be a racial element to the shooting, Young said, “There could be, we don’t know.”
“Certainly the context of ‘Go home’ and ‘Speak English’ lends itself to it,” he said.
A motive remains under investigation, Young said.
The State Patrol said Friday evening it was on the scene of an “active situation” in eastern Crete and warned the public to “stay away from the area.”
“The active situation has been resolved. There is no threat to the public,” the State Patrol said on X an hour later.
Authorities are asking anyone with information about the shooting to come forward. The shooting remains under investigation.
News Source : www.nbcnews.com
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