Authorities reported that At least seven people were injured, including four children between the ages of 3 and 10, during a reported shooting in Crete, NebraskaFriday evening.
The suspect, Billy Booth, 74, was later found dead inside his home across the street.Authorities said it was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The shooting occurred at approximately 4:30 p.m. at a residential property on Crestline Drive in Crete, according to Nebraska State Patrol Capt. Sean Caradori, in statements cited by ABC News.
“It appears that all of the shooting victims will survive,” Caradori said during a news conference Friday.
Nebraska shooting may have been racially motivated
Col. John A. Bolduc of the Nebraska State Patrol confirmed during a news conference Saturday that Booth fired several shots from inside his home. The exact number of shots is not known.
Bolduc said they do not believe any verbal contact occurred between Booth and any of the victims in the moments leading up to the shooting. However, there was history between the suspect and the victims’ families, police said.
Nebraska Crete Police Chief Gary Young said there was a report in May in which victims claimed Booth had tricked them, told them to go back to where they came from and told them to speak English.
When asked if investigators believe the shooting was racially motivated, Young responded: “There could be, we don’t know. Certainly the context of ‘Go Home’ and ‘Speak English’ lends itself to that.”
Authorities initially believed six people had been injured, but a seventh patient realized he had been hurt later that night, Bolduc said.
The victims were transported to the Crete Area Medical Center and some victims were subsequently transferred to other medical centers for further care.
“All of the injuries are consistent with shotgun blast injuries,” Bolduc said.
He added that “most of the victims were outside the home at the time of the shooting, but at least one was inside the home when it was hit.”
Although all victims are expected to survive, Bolduc said recovery will be a long road for some of them.
A friend of one of the victims spoke to ABC affiliate KETV and claimed that the shooter had made inflammatory comments before shooting into the house. He said the shooter shot his friend, as well as his mother, four times in the back.
The suspect took his own life
According to Boldouc, officers heard a single gunshot from a home across the street from where the victims were found. They later discovered that Booth had died from a gunshot wound that he had apparently inflicted on himself.
Two firearms were also discovered in the home, although it is believed that only a shotgun was used during this incident. As far as Boldouc knew, Booth was legally allowed to possess a firearm.
“All of the shots came from a single residence at 1810 Parkland Street,” he said of Booth’s home and where he was found.
Crete police officers, Saline County deputies, Nebraska State Police and Nebraska Parks and Game officers responded to the scene, in addition to fire departments from neighboring towns.
The Nebraska State Police SWAT team responded with several armored vehicles and Caradori said they breached the door of the home where the shots came from at approximately 6:40 p.m.
Caradori confirmed that no law enforcement officers fired any weapons.
“I want all of Crete to know that this situation has been resolved and that there is no threat to the public,” Caradori said.
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