Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
A man with an AR-15-style rifle opened fire inside a Target store in Omaha, Nebraska, sending shoppers and employees terrified. seek safety before the subject was fatally shot by police.
Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said the man had “plenty of ammunition” and evidence suggests he fired multiple rounds, but it was not immediately known if he shot anyone.
Schmaderer said that no injured people were found and that the police searched the store “because there were some people hiding there.”
There were some terrifying moments today for shoppers and workers at a Target store in Omaha, Nebraska when a man allegedly armed with an AR-15 rifle opened fire. Police responded quickly to the scene and shot him dead. No one else was injured. pic.twitter.com/o7UAYGyw9U
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) February 1, 2023
Cathy Mahannah, a customer, said the scene inside the store was “sheer panic.”
The 62-year-old woman was near the store’s entrance picking up Valentine’s Day gifts for her young grandchildren when she heard a bang. She thought something had fallen, then she saw a mass of people running towards the exit.
A shopper told her there was an active shooter and she fled. She heard at least one more shot in the store and a few more when she was outside.
The police chief said that there were multiple 911 calls shortly before noon, with agents arriving at the store within minutes.
“The first arriving officers entered the building, confronted the suspect and shot and killed him,” Schmaderer said, speaking at a news conference about an hour after the shooting. “He had an AR-15 rifle with him and a lot of ammunition“.
Target spokesman Brian Harper-Tibaldo said in a statement that all customers and team members were safely evacuated from the store, which would remain closed indefinitely.
Lt. Neal Bonacci, a police spokesman, said officers are trained to quickly enter such scenes to avoid mass casualties.
“We have learned a lot from other jurisdictions, other areas, other cities that have unfortunately experienced this,” he said. “We went in right away. We are trained to do it. Whether it’s one officer or 10, we go in and neutralize the threat.”
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