Omaha police officers kill active shooter at west Omaha Target

OMAHA — A man wielding an AR-15 rifle and 13 loaded magazines of ammunition walked into a west Omaha Target store Tuesday and began shooting before he was fatally shot by police, authorities said.

Shoppers rushed out emergency exits. Some employees went to hide inside fitting rooms. Many messaged family members, saying they loved them. Others called 911.

Multiple 911 calls alerted police at 11:59 a.m. about a shooting at the superstore, 17810 West Center Road.

The gunman fired at least six shots, according to early scanner traffic.

The gunman was white, in his 30s, and had “plenty of ammunition” said Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer. Officials believe the gunman entered through one of the front entrances.

Schmaderer said the first arriving officers went into the Target, confronted the gunman and killed him.

Police did not believe there is an ongoing threat to the public.

Schmaderer said the shooter had fired rounds, based on casings that were on the ground, but it was unclear if he was firing at anybody.

Police didn’t know how many shots were fired either by the gunman or police.

Several law enforcement agencies, including the Omaha Police Department, FBI, U.S. Marshals and Nebraska State Patrol, as well as the Omaha Fire Department, responded to the scene and blocked off the parking lot.

Schmaderer thanked his officers and the other agencies for their swift actions.

“This is what you want,” he said. “When you have an active shooter in your city, you want a massive response like this.”

Omaha police officers searched the store several times and found no one injured inside.

Target spokesperson Brian Harper-Tibaldo said in a statement that all guests and team members were safely evacuated from the store.

Cathy Mahannah, a customer, said the scene inside the store was “sheer panic.”

The 62-year-old grandmother was near the store’s entrance picking out Valentine’s Day gifts for her family when she heard a banging sound. She thought something had fallen, then saw a mass of people running for 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.

Mahannah was so rattled she initially couldn’t find her car and jumped into a vehicle with a stranger.

“The moments in that parking lot were terrifying when I heard the shots and thought, ‘Where do I hide? I don’t know what to do.’” she said.

At 1 p.m., Kaley Schlueter was among several people waiting to pick up loved ones outside the store when police let them out.

Schlueter was calm at the moment, after what had been a terrifying 35 minutes when her 18-year-old sister was inside the store as a gunman was firing off rounds.

Her sister, Elianne Robinson, who works in the store’s shoe department, had texted Schlueter at 12:03 p.m.

“She said, ‘I love you. There’s a shooting in my Target. I’m in the fitting room. He shot so much, I don’t know if he’s killed anyone,’” Schlueter said.

Schlueter and other relatives began racing to the store. Her sister sent a video message via Snapchat at 12:13 p.m.

“She just was saying, ‘I love you, I’m sorry,’” Schlueter said.

Robinson used the video to show where she was. Schlueter could hear gunshots in the background of the video. She feared “the worst thing possible” was happening, that her sister wanted her family to know she loved them if she did not survive.

But Robinson kept messaging. And then, after what seemed like forever, she let her sister know at 12:38 p.m. that she was OK.

“I’m with the cops,” she messaged. “They got it.”

Waiting for her to come out, Schlueter said she was out of tears for now, relieved and happy that her sister and others had survived.

If only the shooter was killed, that was as it should be, she said.

“But it’s wild that it happened at all,” Schlueter said.