A man with an AR-15-style rifle and more than a dozen ammunition magazines opened fire inside a Target store in Omaha, sending panicked shoppers and employees scrambling for safety before he was fatally shot by police Tuesday afternoon, authorities said. No injuries were reported.
\nThe white man in his 30s, who has not been identified, fired multiple rounds as he entered the store but it wasn\u2019t clear if he fired at anyone, Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said.
\nTarget employee Lauren Murphy had just started her break when she heard the shots, and was in the store\u2019s front restroom. She got a text telling her to either run or stay put \u2014 so she hid in a bathroom stall, lifting her feet off the ground, and began texting her family and friends to say she loved them. A child next to her was crying.
\n\u201cI was scared that this is how I might die at work,\u201d said Murphy, 21.
\n\u201cI was just clutching onto the side of the toilet getting my feet off the ground, making sure I wasn\u2019t visible,\u201d she added.
\nAnother 21-year-old employee, Samuel Jacobsen, was filling a personal shopping order when he heard the first gunshot. But he wasn\u2019t sure what the sound was, and kept working.
\n\u201cThen my coworker ran by and she said, \u2018He\u2019s got a gun, get out!\u2019\u201d Jacobsen said. \u201cI was like, \u2018Oh this is real. I have to get out, I have to get out, I have to get out.\u2019\u201d
\nHe hid behind the store, texting coworkers to make sure they were OK.
\nCathy Mahannah, a customer, said the scene inside was \u201csheer panic.\u201d
\nThe 62-year-old grandmother was near the store\u2019s entrance picking out Valentine\u2019s Day gifts for her family when she heard a banging sound. She thought something had fallen, but then saw a mass of people running for the exit.
\nA shopper told her there was an active shooter, and she ran. She heard at least one more gunshot in the store and a few more when she was outside.
\nMahannah was so rattled she initially couldn\u2019t find her car and jumped into a vehicle with a stranger.
\n\u201cThe moments in that parking lot were terrifying when I heard the shots and thought, \u2018Where do I hide? I don\u2019t know what to do,\u2019\u201d she said.
\nAt least 29 calls to 911 came in around noon, and the city\u2019s police chief said officers were at the store within minutes. The first officers on the scene included Omaha police officers and a Nebraska State Trooper.
\n\u201cThe first arriving officers went into the building, confronted the suspect and shot him dead,\u201d Schmaderer said. \u201cHe had an AR-15 rifle with him and plenty of ammunition.\u201d
\nPolice said the officers gave several loud commands for the man to drop the rifle before an Omaha officer shot the suspect, who died at the scene.
\nAgents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives happened to be nearby and helped get victims to safety, bureau spokesperson John Ham said.
\nThe ATF is tracing the weapon to determine where it came from, whether it was acquired legally and whether it has been used in other crimes, Ham said.
\nTarget spokesperson Brian Harper-Tibaldo said in a statement that all shoppers and employees were safely evacuated from the store, which will remain closed indefinitely.
\nLt. Neal Bonacci, a police spokesperson, said officers are trained to enter such scenes quickly to prevent mass casualties.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve learned a lot from other jurisdictions, other areas, other cities that have unfortunately experienced this,\u201d he said. \u201cWe enter right away. We\u2019re trained to do so. Whether it\u2019s one officer or 10, we go inside and neutralize the threat.\u201d
\nSeveral 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\u00a0disturbingly frequent basis.
\nIn January, one woman was injured in a shooting at a\u00a0Walmart store in Evansville, Indiana.\u00a0Police said it could have been much worse if not for heroic actions by an employee and police. Officers arrived within minutes and fatally shot the gunman. A\u00a0Walmart 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.
\nIn Buffalo, New York, an 18-year-old fatally shot 10 people and injured three others last May, after seeking out a\u00a0grocery store\u00a0in a predominately Black neighborhood. Authorities immediately called it a hate crime.
\nThe Omaha shooting came just over 15 years after the deadly December 2007\u00a0shooting at a Von Maur department store, when a 19-year-old gunman killed eight people and himself.
\nNebraska allows gun owners to carry firearms \u2014 including assault-style rifles \u2014 in public view, as long as they don\u2019t have a criminal record that bars them from possessing one and aren\u2019t in a place where guns are prohibited. To legally conceal a gun, Nebraskans must submit to a state patrol background check, get fingerprinted and take a gun safety course.
\nRepublican state Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon is\u00a0sponsoring a bill\u00a0that would allow people to carry concealed handguns without a permit. The measure also would prohibit cities and counties from issuing local laws with more stringent controls than the state law. The proposal has 25 cosponsors.
\nJacobsen, the store employee, said he wants stricter, not looser, gun laws.
\n\u201cAs someone who grew up here, I always hear about this part of Omaha and west Omaha being so safe,\u201d he said. But Tuesday\u2019s shooting \u201creally drives it home that it could happen anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n