Two off-duty officers who fatally shot two men outside Nebraska night club are identified
Two off-duty officers who fatally shot two men outside Nebraska night club are identified
A memorial is displayed in an alley on L Street, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, in Omaha, Neb., after two police officers, who were working off duty in Nebraska’s largest city, shot and killed two men in an SUV. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
A memorial is displayed in an alley on L Street, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, in Omaha, Neb., after two police officers, who were working off duty in Nebraska’s largest city, shot and killed two men in an SUV. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
A look down an alley on L Street between S. 31st and S 32nd Streets, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024, in Omaha, Neb. Investigators plan to interview two police officers who were working off duty in Nebraska’s largest city when they shot and killed two men in an SUV, a police spokesperson said Monday, Feb. 5. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
A look down an alley on L Street between S. 31st and S 32nd Streets, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024, in Omaha, Neb. Investigators plan to interview two police officers who were working off duty in Nebraska’s largest city when they shot and killed two men in an SUV, a police spokesperson said Monday, Feb. 5. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
A memorial is displayed in an alley on L Street, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, in Omaha, Neb., after two police officers, who were working off duty in Nebraska’s largest city, shot and killed two men in an SUV. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
A memorial is displayed in an alley on L Street, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, in Omaha, Neb., after two police officers, who were working off duty in Nebraska’s largest city, shot and killed two men in an SUV. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
A memorial is displayed in an alley on L Street, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, in Omaha, Neb., after two police officers, who were working off duty in Nebraska’s largest city, shot and killed two men in an SUV. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
A memorial is displayed in an alley on L Street, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, in Omaha, Neb., after two police officers, who were working off duty in Nebraska’s largest city, shot and killed two men in an SUV. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
A look down an alley on L Street between S. 31st and S 32nd Streets, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024, in Omaha, Neb. Investigators plan to interview two police officers who were working off duty in Nebraska’s largest city when they shot and killed two men in an SUV, a police spokesperson said Monday, Feb. 5. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
A look down an alley on L Street between S. 31st and S 32nd Streets, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024, in Omaha, Neb. Investigators plan to interview two police officers who were working off duty in Nebraska’s largest city when they shot and killed two men in an SUV, a police spokesperson said Monday, Feb. 5. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
A look down an alley on L Street between S. 31st and S 32nd Streets, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024, in Omaha, Neb. Investigators plan to interview two police officers who were working off duty in Nebraska’s largest city when they shot and killed two men in an SUV, a police spokesperson said Monday, Feb. 5. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
A look down an alley on L Street between S. 31st and S 32nd Streets, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024, in Omaha, Neb. Investigators plan to interview two police officers who were working off duty in Nebraska’s largest city when they shot and killed two men in an SUV, a police spokesperson said Monday, Feb. 5. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Officials have identified the two Omaha police officers who shot and killed two men while working off-duty security jobs last weekend in Nebraska’s largest city, but they haven’t released additional details about the shooting ahead of a planned news conference later this week.
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Police have said they found a gun in the SUV that the two men were in when they were shot, but they haven’t said whether either of them pointed a weapon at the officers. The men, Fernando Rodriguez-Juarez, 26, and Jonathan Hernandez-Rosales, 28, died at a hospital following the shooting, which took place around 2 a.m. Saturday outside a night club.
Police are planning to release more details at a news conference Thursday afternoon.
Investigators are asking anyone who was at the Extasis Night Club when the shooting occurred to contact them because many potential witnesses left that night without talking to officers. The department is also reviewing body camera and surveillance video and interviewing the officers.
Surveillance video obtained by KETV shows two officers approaching an SUV with flashlights and their arms extended. Later, an ambulance arrives around 2:15 a.m. and takes both men away from the scene.
The officers involved in the shooting were identified as Capt. Jay Leavitt and Officer Robert Soldo. Leavitt has been with the department for over 25 years and was involved in a different shooting last June that he was cleared in. Soldo has been an officer for more than eight years.
In the June incident, Leavitt and another officer were leaving a community meeting when they saw a man with a long gun firing at a house. Leavitt and the other officer opened fire, and the man with the gun was wounded in his wrist. The gunman and three other people who were with him were arrested.
Leavitt and Soldo remain on paid administrative leave while Saturday’s shooting is being investigated.