Don't mess with these Omahans

Had Wayne and Kay DeBoer not shortened their morning trip for a cup of Hy-Vee coffee, this story might not have happened.

Nor would it have happened if an ex-con hadn't sprinted after a suspected robber, or if a business owner hadn't stopped a brutal attack and then shot out the tires of the assailant's car.

But with civic virtue and guts, Omahans halted three crimes in progress Thursday and helped send at least four suspects to jail.

* * *

The DeBoers had returned to their west Omaha home around 9:30 Thursday morning, when they saw an unfamiliar maroon Chevrolet Suburban in their driveway — right next to their neighbors' garage.

“We thought someone was waiting for us,” Kay DeBoer said, “but we didn't see anybody.”

Somebody, however, saw them. Moments after the DeBoers arrived, three people raced from the neighbors' garage, near 120th and Pacific Streets, and jumped into the SUV.

The Suburban then squealed down the street, but not before the DeBoers took note of the license plate number.

Wayne and Kay DeBoer didn't know it then, but they'd just interrupted a burglary that almost cost their neighbors $1,500 in belongings.

“We just happened to be in the right place at the right time,” Kay DeBoer said.

* * *

It was close to 5:47 on Thursday evening. Travis Hodge was fresh out of jail and eager for his first cigarette in more than two dozen days.

So, to celebrate the end of his short stretch related to burglary and theft convictions, the 22-year-old Omaha man stopped for a pack of smokes at Vinton Street Tobacco.

The tobacco shop sits directly across from La Mexicana Meat Market and Restaurant — a squat, yellow building with red trim on the corner of 16th and Vinton Streets.

Jennifer Roberts was outside the cigarette shop when she heard screams. She looked into the grocery store and saw a robbery under way: one thug waving a gun in the air, another aiming at people on the floor.

A police cruiser on routine patrol passed by the grocery store; the officers saw what was happening and stopped.

That's when one suspected robber bolted from the store, running west on Vinton Street. Hodge sprinted after him without thinking, and an officer followed.

“I never would've imagined chasing down a suspect for the police,” Hodge said.

By the end of the night, Hodge would be a darling of Omaha's finest.

* * *

Samuel Gomez Jr. had just gotten a haircut and was returning to the strip mall owned by his father near 32nd and Q Streets on Thursday night.

It was about 8:20 p.m., not even three hours after Hodge had tackled his suspect. Father and son watched a customer enter the restaurant in the strip mall, about 50 feet from where they were standing. As the man walked in the door, another guy ran up behind him and slammed a pistol into his head. The victim fell, and his attacker struck him again.

Gomez and his father bolted forward to stop the attack. Samuel Gomez Sr. drew a gun.

* * *

Sharon Childers, a librarian at Edison Elementary School, had been at work for about an hour Thursday morning when her husband called: The police were at their home, he said. The neighbors had stumbled on a group of burglars who had ransacked the house.

“And I thought, ‘Oh, they can have my $4.99 earrings from Kmart,” Childers said with a laugh. “We're not rich people. We don't have expensive stuff.”

However, the people who burglarized the Childers home made off with a Toshiba laptop, a new winter coat (with the tags still attached) and other items. They didn't get a chance to grab more.

The burglary of the Childers home is part of a larger trend; Omaha police statistics indicate that burglaries from January through September have increased about 4.5 percent over the same period last year.

During the first nine months of this year, there were 2,458 burglaries in Omaha, compared with 2,351 last year.

Unlike most of the others, this burglary was resolved within an hour. Shortly after the DeBoers called 911, an officer stopped a maroon Suburban near 70th Street and Ames Avenue.

Four people were inside the sport utility vehicle, police said. One of them was wearing a brand-new winter coat with the tags still attached, Childers said she was told.

Officers found enough evidence to arrest two 17-year-olds on suspicion of burglary. The Childerses' belongings were returned to them by Thursday evening. But that wasn't all.

“You know how lucky I am?” Childers said. “When my husband came home, there was a five-dollar bill blowing around in the yard. So we're five dollars ahead.”

* * *

As the Childerses were getting their possessions back, the suspected robber of the meat market on Vinton had barreled down the street and turned into a dark alley. Hodge and the police officer weren't far behind.

They ran through backyards and on to the next block. The suspect stumbled, and Hodge dove to tackle him.

Hodge held the man down until the officer took over.

More police cruisers had flooded the area by then, Hodge said.

“They came out of the woodwork.”

Back at the grocery store, an officer apprehended a second suspect who tried to sneak out the back with a ski mask on his head and a gun in his hand. Two others are believed to have escaped.

Authorities generally advise the public to stay out of crime's way for their own safety, but officers were visibly pleased with Hodge's actions.

“He did a lot, an awful lot,” said Lt. George Merithew at the scene. “We owe him a bit of thanks.”

At the end of the interview, Merithew and a sergeant walked over to Hodge to shake his hand.

* * *

About an hour and a half after that handshake, the Gomezes were rushing the attacker at their shopping mall. The man threw away his gun and dashed for a nearby gray Mazda 3.

As he started to drive off, the younger Gomez tried to yank the keys from the ignition.

The elder Gomez opened fire, launching about seven rounds toward the driver's side tires of the Mazda. He blew them out, his son said.

“People see stuff like this going on, it's bad for business,” the younger Gomez said.

Their efforts were for naught. The Mazda roared off west on Q Street.

The victim, whom Samuel Gomez Jr. said was bleeding profusely, was taken to a local hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

Police considered ticketing Gomez on suspicion of unlawful discharge of a firearm but decided against it, said Sgt. Mark Matuza. Gomez, he said, believed that the attacker still had a gun.

The younger Gomez said it never occurred to him to be scared.

“It's just an adrenaline rush,” he said. “You just want to get him. ... You don't want anyone to get hurt.”

Contact the writer:

444-1068, johnny.perez@owh.com

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