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(Omaha, NE) -- Omaha Police say officers responded within minutes to an active shooter at a Super Target in west Omaha.
Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer says from evidence collected so far, they believe the suspect started firing as he entered the store. "It's unknown, at this time, if he was firing at anybody." Schmaderer says the shooter was immediately taken down by officers as they arrived on scene. "The first arriving officers went into the building, confronted the suspect and shot him dead. The suspect is a white male, I'm gonna estimate that he's in his 30s, he had an AR-15 rifle with him and plenty of ammunition."
Schmaderer says numerous sweeps of the building were completed, but no other victims were found. No employees or customers were physically injured during the shooting. Douglas County dispatch scanner audio indicates that the suspect was shot near the registers at the front of the store.
OPD Lt. Neal Bonacci says their training helped ensure that the suspect was handled quickly, saving lives. "We've learned a lot from other jurisdictions, other areas, other cities that have unfortunately experienced this. We enter right away, we're trained to do so, whether it's one officer or ten. We go inside and we neutralized the threat."
Following the shooting, Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert commended the Omaha Police Department. "Omaha police saved many lives today by their quick actions to prevent a mass casualty event at Target. Omaha Police officers are highly trained to respond to and assess life-threatening situations. Their bravery and high level of skill should be commended."
Target Corporate says the store on West Center will be closed for the foreseeable future.
Following an incident earlier today at our Omaha West location, we are extremely grateful that all of our guests and team members were safely evacuated from the store without injury. The store will remain closed temporarily, during which time we will provide our team members full compensation and access to on-site counseling for those who need it. We thank the Omaha Police Department for their fast response and we continue to partner with them on their investigation. We refer additional questions to law enforcement at this time.
No information about the suspect's identity has been released at this time.