OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Two teenagers have been charged in Saturday’s fatal shooting at a Nebraska shopping mall.
One man was killed and a woman was wounded in the shooting at Westroads Mall in Omaha that prosecutors said was likely gang related. The shooting around midday Saturday sent shoppers fleeing from the mall.
A judge ordered 16-year-old Makhi Woolridge-Jones to be held without bail after he was charged with first-degree murder, assault and two gun charges. His older brother, 18-year-old Brandon Woolridge-Jones, was charged as an accessory to the shooting, and his bail was set at $75,000.
Authorities have not disclosed many details about what led to the shooting near the J.C. Penney store in the mall, but Chief Deputy Douglas County Attorney Brenda Beadle said Monday that it appeared to be gang related.
Police said that after the shooting 21-year-old Trequez Swift died at an Omaha hospital. Twenty-two-year-old Ja’Keya Veland was treated for a gunshot wound to her leg at a different hospital.
A month ago, Omaha Police Officer Jeffrey Wittstruck was shot at the mall by a 21-year-old man who was accused of shoplifting T-shirts from J.C. Penney at Westroads. Wittstruck survived.
The mall was the site of a 2007 shooting where a gunman killed eight people and himself inside the Von Maur department store.