The person who was fatally shot by police after entering a Goal store in Omaha, Nebraska, armed with an AR-15-style rifle had obtained the weapon just 4 days earlier at a Cabela’s sporting goods store, police said Wednesday. Nobody else was hurt.
Court records show that the person, identified by police as Joseph Jones, 32, of suburban Omaha, had no prior felony convictions in Douglas County, where Omaha is situated. He also had no prior, documented contact with the town’s police, records show.
He entered the shop around noon Tuesday, where police said he fired several rounds, sending shoppers and staff scrambling for exits and cowering in bathroom stalls. Together with the rifle, he had 13 loaded rifle magazines of ammunition.
Jones’ uncle, Larry Derksen Jr., said his nephew had schizophrenia and that his mental illness left him isolated.
“My nephew went into Goal. I think he had no intention of wounding anybody. He fired off a bunch of rounds,” Derksen told KETV-TV. “He had an AR-15 before law enforcement got there. If he had any intention of killing anybody, he would have. He would have had time to achieve this.”
Political Cartoons
Mental health experts say that the majority individuals with mental illness are usually not violent. They’re way more prone to be victims of violent crime than perpetrators, and access to firearms is a giant a part of the issue.
Derksen told KETV that “this was predictable” and that his nephew never must have had a gun.
Callers flooded 911 dispatchers with around 30 calls for help, and Omaha cops and a Nebraska State Trooper rushed to the scene. They quickly encountered Jones and ordered him to drop the rifle.
Police said Officer Brian Vanderheiden, a 20-year veteran of the town’s police force, then fired, striking and killing Jones. The discharge said Vanderheiden was placed on paid administrative leave per department policy.
Police haven’t yet released a timeline, showing how long Jones was in the shop before officers responded, but Omaha police Lt. Neal Bonacci said they’re working on one.
After the shooting, officers searched the shop thrice before declaring the scene secure, based on police. Through the investigation, officers foud bullet casings contained in the store.
Cabela’s didn’t immediately reply to emails from The Associated Press looking for comment.
Bonacci said police are talking to family as they give the impression of being for a motive. But he added: “I don’t know that we’ll ever necessarily know.”
Several other shootings have taken place at stores across the country in recent months, at a time when mass shootings have commanded public attention on a disturbingly frequent basis.
In January, one woman was injured in a shooting at a Walmart store in Evansville, Indiana. Police said it might have been much worse if not for heroic actions by an worker and police. Officers arrived inside minutes and fatally shot the gunman. A Walmart manager in Chesapeake, Virginia, killed six people in November when he began shooting wildly inside a break room. Six others were wounded. The gunman shot and killed himself before officers arrived.
In Buffalo, Latest York, an 18-year-old fatally shot 10 people and injured three others last May, after looking for out a food market in a predominately Black neighborhood. Authorities immediately called it a hate crime.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material is probably not published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
