http://www.omaha.com/news/crime/ove...cle_431b53ac-1d6b-11e5-85e1-73aad988b455.html
A fresh spasm of gun violence this weekend in northeast Omaha left one man dead and seven others wounded.
Police are investigating whether some of the shootings were linked to gangs.
Lt. Ken Kanger, who commands the Omaha police gang unit, said tensions were high Saturday after a fight broke out earlier in the day during the Junteenth parade, bringing that celebration to an early end.
Killed was Travis Holbert, a 25-year-old Omahan. Holbert had been sitting on a porch near 33rd Avenue and Burdette Street, when someone shot from a passing car, Sgt. Brian Heath said.
The shooting occurred at about 3:15 a.m. Sunday and was the fifth of six shooting episodes, almost all of which were drive-bys and some of which are believed to be related. No arrests had been reported as of late Sunday, and it is not known whether the victims were the intended targets.
The Junteenth festival celebrates the end of slavery, and this year marked the 150th anniversary of the celebration. The parade, which began at 11 a.m. Saturday at 30th and Lake Streets, was brought to an end before reaching its conclusion at 30th and Sprague Streets. Five people were arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct after a fight among two groups erupted near a restaurant along the parade route.
The first of the night’s shooting victims, Sharon Haynie, 51, was struck about 11 p.m. when someone fired rounds from a vehicle near 56th Street and Grand Avenue, police said. Haynie was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center with wounds to her upper thigh and upper calf and is expected to survive, according to Officer Kevin Wiese, a police spokesman.
About 15 minutes later, Bernard J. Spencer Jr., 28, and Coriona D. Brizedine, 20, were shot on a porch of a two-story apartment building at 29th and Parker Streets. Three vehicles in front of the building also were pocked by rounds, Lt. Jim Pauly said.
Spencer and Brizedine were taken in critical condition to Creighton University Medical Center. Family members outside Spencer’s home said they didn’t know what may have led up to the shooting.
The mother of another shooting victim, Johnathan R. Wallace, 25, said her son was shot while standing in front of their house near 68th Street and Laurel Avenue about 12:20 a.m. Wallace was treated for a wound to his leg at Immanuel Medical Center and released, said his mother, Brenda Wallace.
“My son was just standing out front waiting for his girlfriend to pick him up and he heard about five shots,” she said. “He felt something hit him in the leg.”
Wallace had just celebrated his 25th birthday on Saturday.
No bullets hit the Wallace home, but a neighbor’s house one door to the west was hit, Brenda Wallace said.
The mother of Devirous D. Hill, 27, of Omaha said her son was hit by bullets while he was a passenger in a car with some friends. Hill and his friends were on 38th Street between Ames and Meredith Avenues about 2:20 a.m. when someone in another car began shooting.
Vera Hill said her son was hit in the right shoulder and left foot. He was taken to Creighton medical center and was expected to be released Sunday afternoon, his mother said.
“My son is not in a gang, and that’s the first thing he told police,” she said. “It’s crazy out here. It really is. I don’t feel safe sometimes sitting on my own porch.”
Several of the drive-by shootings took place in Omaha’s Prospect Village neighborhood, where a lingering dispute among sects of the Blood gang led to the shootings of 10 people in January, according to authorities. Three of those people died, and an arrest was made in connection with that case.
The last of the Saturday night-Sunday morning shootings occurred about 3:30 a.m. in the parking lot next to the Heavy Rotation Motorcycle Club at 16th and Maple Streets. Pauly said that shooting was not believed to be connected to the others and was not a drive-by.
Deneisha M. Moore, 37, was taken in critical condition to Creighton. Fredrick Graves, 35, went to that hospital in a private vehicle.
A fresh spasm of gun violence this weekend in northeast Omaha left one man dead and seven others wounded.
Police are investigating whether some of the shootings were linked to gangs.
Lt. Ken Kanger, who commands the Omaha police gang unit, said tensions were high Saturday after a fight broke out earlier in the day during the Junteenth parade, bringing that celebration to an early end.
Killed was Travis Holbert, a 25-year-old Omahan. Holbert had been sitting on a porch near 33rd Avenue and Burdette Street, when someone shot from a passing car, Sgt. Brian Heath said.
The shooting occurred at about 3:15 a.m. Sunday and was the fifth of six shooting episodes, almost all of which were drive-bys and some of which are believed to be related. No arrests had been reported as of late Sunday, and it is not known whether the victims were the intended targets.
The Junteenth festival celebrates the end of slavery, and this year marked the 150th anniversary of the celebration. The parade, which began at 11 a.m. Saturday at 30th and Lake Streets, was brought to an end before reaching its conclusion at 30th and Sprague Streets. Five people were arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct after a fight among two groups erupted near a restaurant along the parade route.
The first of the night’s shooting victims, Sharon Haynie, 51, was struck about 11 p.m. when someone fired rounds from a vehicle near 56th Street and Grand Avenue, police said. Haynie was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center with wounds to her upper thigh and upper calf and is expected to survive, according to Officer Kevin Wiese, a police spokesman.
About 15 minutes later, Bernard J. Spencer Jr., 28, and Coriona D. Brizedine, 20, were shot on a porch of a two-story apartment building at 29th and Parker Streets. Three vehicles in front of the building also were pocked by rounds, Lt. Jim Pauly said.
Spencer and Brizedine were taken in critical condition to Creighton University Medical Center. Family members outside Spencer’s home said they didn’t know what may have led up to the shooting.
The mother of another shooting victim, Johnathan R. Wallace, 25, said her son was shot while standing in front of their house near 68th Street and Laurel Avenue about 12:20 a.m. Wallace was treated for a wound to his leg at Immanuel Medical Center and released, said his mother, Brenda Wallace.
“My son was just standing out front waiting for his girlfriend to pick him up and he heard about five shots,” she said. “He felt something hit him in the leg.”
Wallace had just celebrated his 25th birthday on Saturday.
No bullets hit the Wallace home, but a neighbor’s house one door to the west was hit, Brenda Wallace said.
The mother of Devirous D. Hill, 27, of Omaha said her son was hit by bullets while he was a passenger in a car with some friends. Hill and his friends were on 38th Street between Ames and Meredith Avenues about 2:20 a.m. when someone in another car began shooting.
Vera Hill said her son was hit in the right shoulder and left foot. He was taken to Creighton medical center and was expected to be released Sunday afternoon, his mother said.
“My son is not in a gang, and that’s the first thing he told police,” she said. “It’s crazy out here. It really is. I don’t feel safe sometimes sitting on my own porch.”
Several of the drive-by shootings took place in Omaha’s Prospect Village neighborhood, where a lingering dispute among sects of the Blood gang led to the shootings of 10 people in January, according to authorities. Three of those people died, and an arrest was made in connection with that case.
The last of the Saturday night-Sunday morning shootings occurred about 3:30 a.m. in the parking lot next to the Heavy Rotation Motorcycle Club at 16th and Maple Streets. Pauly said that shooting was not believed to be connected to the others and was not a drive-by.
Deneisha M. Moore, 37, was taken in critical condition to Creighton. Fredrick Graves, 35, went to that hospital in a private vehicle.
