Review of police shootings in Lincoln since 2013
The Journal Star recently conducted a review of police shootings in Lincoln over the past decade, finding that such shootings are rarely caught on film and local police agencies inconsistently identify the officers involved.
1. Douglas DaMoude, May 30, 2014
Two Lancaster County Sheriff’s deputies shot and killed 64-year-old Douglas DaMoude on May 30, 2014, after he barricaded himself inside his southeast Lincoln house in an eviction case turned deadly.
DaMoude, who had been evicted from the house but had returned and was living there again, was pointing a rifle at deputies that turned out to be unloaded when Capt. Thomas Brookhouser and Sgt. Tommy Trotter shot him, according to authorities.
In the weeks before his death, DaMoude wrote letters to the sheriff's office and police department saying he did not recognize their authority.
An internal investigation cleared the deputies of wrongdoing, Sheriff Terry Wagner said. And a grand jury later cleared them of any criminal wrongdoing. There was no body-worn camera footage of the shooting, but it was captured by dashboard cameras pointed toward DaMoude’s door.
2. Tyson Hubbard, March 5, 2015
A deputy U.S. marshal working on the Metro Area Fugitive Task Force shot and killed 34-year-old Tyson Hubbard of Omaha at a north Lincoln motel on March 5, 2015.
Four officers with the task force tried to arrest Hubbard, who was wanted for allegedly breaking a man’s eye socket with a drill, as he was getting into a vehicle at the motel.
Authorities said Hubbard resisted and struggled with them, and as the deputy marshal approached the passenger side of the Buick, he allegedly saw Hubbard reach under the front seat toward the butt of the revolver before the marshal shot the 34-year-old multiple times.
A grand jury later cleared the deputy marshal of criminal wrongdoing in the shooting, which was not captured on body-worn camera footage. The deputy marshal was never publicly identified.
3. Tareik Artis, Sept. 22, 2015
A deputy U.S. marshal and a Lancaster County Sheriff’s deputy each shot at 18-year-old Tareik Artis, who was wounded in the incident, which played out near the Nebraska Capitol on Sept. 22, 2015.
Artis was carrying a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun with one bullet in the chamber when he was shot three times after fleeing a traffic stop near 12th and K streets, according to authorities.
An internal investigation determined Deputy Jeffrey Moeller acted within the scope of the sheriff's use of force policy, Sheriff Terry Wagner said then. Authorities never identified the involved deputy marshal, who was a member of the Metro Area Fugitive Task Force. There was no bodycam footage of the incident.
After he was released from the hospital, prosecutors charged Artis with four felonies for his alleged possession of drugs and the firearm. In 2016, he was sentenced to 17 to 22 years in prison.
4. Zachary Grigsby, Nov. 29, 2015
Two Lincoln Police officers shot and killed 29-year-old Zachary Grigsby after he allegedly shot two officers near 73rd and Adams streets on Nov. 29, 2015.
Police accused Grigsby of shooting Lincoln Police Officer Angela Sands in the chest and Officer Matthew Gilleland in the arm before two officers — some combination of Sands, Gilleland and Sgt. Brad Junker — fired eight times, killing the 29-year-old.
Then-Police Chief Jim Peschong declined to say which officers fired their guns. A grand jury cleared all three officers of criminal wrongdoing in the shooting. It’s unclear if any of the officers were wearing bodycams.
5. Germichael Kennedy, June 26, 2016
Two Lincoln Police officers fatally shot 22-year-old Germichael Kennedy, who was suspected of killing a 20-year-old woman earlier that morning, at around 9 a.m. on June 26, 2016.
Lincoln Police Sgt. Mario Robinson and Officer Josh Atkinson were chasing Kennedy and first tried to use a Taser on the 22-year-old before he allegedly pulled out a 40 caliber semi-automatic pistol and pointed it at police. Kennedy didn’t fire his weapon, but had pointed it at Robinson’s head, according to grand jury testimony.
A grand jury later cleared both Robinson and Atikinson of criminal wrongdoing in the shooting, which was not captured by body-worn cameras.
6. Thomas Sailors, Jan. 5, 2018
A deputy U.S. marshal shot 25-year-old Thomas Sailors on Jan. 5, 2018, as the deputy and two Lincoln Police Department gang investigators served a felony drug warrant for the Gage County man’s arrest.
Police alleged Sailors drove away from authorities as they tried to arrest him, striking at least four cars, including one driven by the marshal, who fired shots into the Yukon, wounding Sailors.
Deputy Marshal Paul Keyes fired 19 rounds at Sailors, who survived the shooting. The involved Lincoln Police officers did not fire their weapons. Keyes died of cancer a month after the incident.
The shooting wasn’t captured on body cameras, though it was captured by dashboard cameras.
Prosecutors later charged Sailors with third-degree assault on an officer, theft by unlawful taking and operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest. In April 2019, Judge Lori Maret sent him to prison for five years, telling him, "It was your fault that anything that happened that day happened.”
And in 2020, a federal judge dismissed an excessive force lawsuit Sailors filed over the shooting.
7. Christopher Brennauer, Dec. 29, 2018
A uniformed Lincoln Police officer shot 43-year-old Christopher Brennauer amid an armed struggle inside an apartment building near 48th and High streets on Dec. 29, 2018.
Officer Kyle Russell shot Brennauer — and fellow Officer Josh Atkinson — after Brennauer stabbed Russell amid the struggle, according to authorities. It’s unclear if there was body-worn camera footage of the incident.
All three men were treated for injuries but survived the incident. Prosecutors later charged Brennauer with first-degree assault on an officer, attempted first-degree assault on an officer, terroristic threats and three weapons-related crimes.
In July 2021, he was sentenced to 57 to 79 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of four felonies.
9. Hailey Stainbrook and Christian Alexander, Feb. 20, 2021
Two Nebraska State Patrol troopers and one Lincoln Police officer fired 37 rounds at 30-year-old Hailey Stainbrook 26-year-old Christian Alexander after the Wyoming couple led police on a chase through Lincoln on Feb. 20, 2021. Both Alexander and Stainbrook later died of their injuries.
Though authorities repeatedly described the incident as a shootout and said both Alexander and Stainbrook were armed, grand jury testimony later revealed there was no evidence they fired any shots in the chase, and one of the two supposed guns turned out to be a replica.
A grand jury cleared the involved officers — Nebraska State Patrol Sgt. Sean Velte, Trooper Mark White and Lincoln Police Officer Jesse Hilger — of criminal wrongdoing in the shooting. Lincoln Police officials publicly identified Hilger in the days after the shooting, but the State Patrol declined to identify its troopers, citing longstanding agency policy.
The grand jury reviewed body-worn camera footage captured amid the incident.
10. German Pedraza, Nov. 24, 2021
A plainclothes investigator with the Nebraska State Patrol shot 27-year-old German Pedraza on Nov. 24, 2021, after investigators spotted his distinct car while following up a Crime Stoppers tip near 19th and G streets, authorities said then.
Authorities alleged that Pedraza reached for a gun after struggling with the trooper, identified through grand jury records as Investigator Adam Strode. State Patrol Col. John Bolduc and Lincoln Police Chief Teresa Ewins declined to identify the investigators involved in the shooting prior to the release of the grand jury transcript.
Pedraza died at a local hospital five days after the shooting.
A grand jury cleared Strode of criminal wrongdoing in the Columbus man’s death. Neither of the investigators who approached Pedraza that day — both members of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Narcotics Task Force — were wearing body cameras, according to the grand jury transcript.
11. Chace Abney, May 1, 2023
Plainclothes investigators with the Lincoln Police Department and Nebraska State Patrol shot 35-year-old Chace Abney on May 1, 2023, amid an altercation in a west Lincoln parking lot.
Authorities alleged the Nevada man fired a gun at the investigators, who worked on the Lincoln-Lancaster County Narcotics Task Force, after Abney had followed them to the parking lot from a nearby motel. State Patrol Col. John Bolduc and Lincoln Police Chief Teresa Ewins declined to identify the officers who shot Abney, who died at a Lincoln hospital five days later.
A grand jury hasn’t yet been convened to review investigators’ actions for criminal wrongdoing in the lead-up to his death. None of the three investigators who shot at Abney or witnessed the shooting were wearing body cameras, according to authorities.
12. Stephen Kafka, Oct. 17,2023
A Lincoln Police officer shot 27-year-old Stephen Kafka after he allegedly attacked multiple officers with a knife in the Lincoln Bus Depot at 5250 Superior St on Oct. 17, 2023.
Police were called to the depot shortly after midnight, where they say Kafka refused to get off a bus when he had no ticket or money for fare. Once police arrived and confronted Kafka, he lunged at them with a knife, officials said.
Officer Kirby Urbanek sustained injuries to his neck with the knife by Kafka. Officer Kate Schwenke then shot Kafka after he tried to reach for an officer's gun. Body camera footage exists for this incident, but LPD only released pictures of the incident showing Kafka's attack and not the video.
Kafka has been charged with with attempted second-degree murder, second-degree assault on an officer and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony.
Shooting Microtel, 11.21
Two people were hospitalized Tuesday after a man was shot by a police officer and a woman was run over by the driver of the car who was shot, according to the Lincoln Police Department.
15. Michael Glaser, April 2, 2024
Lincoln Police Officers and a Nebraska State Patrol trooper shot 45-year-old Michael Glaser at a northwest Lincoln Casey's.
At about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Lincoln police officers were called to the Casey's at 2500 N.W. 12th St. on a report of a man who had entered the store and put a gun on the checkout counter.
Glaser had a previous relationship with an employee at the Casey's and had gone there to confront them. That employee was not there when Glaser arrived, according to Lancaster County Chief Deputy Ben Houchin.
When officers arrived at the gas station, Glaser fired a shot at them, and at least one officer returned fire. Shortly after, Glaser fired more shots at officers who were positioned outside the store and they returned fire again.
Glaser suffered injuries to his upper chest and forehead during the second exchange, police say.
Glaser was charged with two counts of first-degree false imprisonment, two counts of terroristic threats, four counts of using a firearm to commit a felony, unlawful discharge of a firearm, and resisting arrest using a deadly weapon.
A pregnant woman and her unborn child died early Sunday following a shooting in North Omaha.
A 27-year-old man was killed in a shooting in South Omaha early Thursday morning.
A Lincoln police officer shot a man on a bus at the Lincoln Bus Depot after the man stabbed another officer.
The Lincoln police officers involved in a scuffle that left one officer with a neck wound and a suspect shot have been identified as Kirby Urbanek and Kate Schwenke.
The Seward County deputy who tried to stop the car driven by a man who was shot and killed by police on Monday had unsuccessfully chased the same vehicle previously.
A deputy with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office shot and injured a man in the area of 108th Street and West Maple Road early Saturday.
The Nebraska State Patrol identified the man killed on Interstate 80 last week by Seward County Sheriff's Office deputies as a 43-year-old Hastings man.
The Douglas County Attorney's Office made the preliminary decision Tuesday not to bring charges against an Omaha man who fatally shot another man early Sunday morning, saying the killing was in self-defense.
Two people were hospitalized after a man was shot by a police officer and a woman was run over by the driver of the car who was shot, Lincoln Police said.
Despite hearing criticism from his father, a grand jury finds Nebraska State Patrol trooper's and Lincoln police officer's fatal use-of-force on May 1 against 35-year-old Chace Abney justified.
A Columbus Police officer shot and killed 17-year-old Chase Ditter during a welfare check, the Nebraska State Patrol said.
One of the two men shot and killed by off-duty Omaha Police Department officers on Saturday fired a handgun at officers prior to them shooting 21 times at the men’s vehicle, authorities said Thursday.
The Omaha Police Department has identified the police officer who was involved in the shooting of a man last week.
A Lancaster County grand jury has indicted a former Seward County Sheriff's Office deputy for a fatal shooting in October on Interstate 80.
A day after the jury heard from the other Seward County deputy on scene during an officer-involved shooting along Interstate 80 in 2023, Anthony Gann took the stand to tell his side.
Jurors deliberated three hours before acquitting a former deputy who fired 35 shots during a 2023 I-80 pursuit.
