Omahan dies in 6-floor fall

Thirty-one-year old Shane Niesen died Friday after apparently falling or jumping from the sixth floor of a midtown apartment building, just as Omaha police officers were forcing their way into the apartment.

Shortly after 2 p.m. Omaha police received a 911 call that someone was hanging out of a window at Jackson Tower, near St. Mary’s Avenue and 28th Street.

Anca Pennington, said she called 911 after looking out her window and seeing a man toss a grocery cart out of an apartment across and above from her’s. Another resident said he also saw clothes and a pillow get tossed out.

Billy Miller, a Jackson Tower resident, said the man who died, Niesen, did not live in the apartment, but was an acquaintance of the man living there.

Omaha police spokesman Michael Pecha said there wasn’t anyone hanging out of the window when officers arrived. As police gained entry into the sixth-floor room, the officers saw Niesen going out the window, Pecha said.

"The officers were unable to stop him," he said.

Niesen was taken to University of Nebraska Medical Center, where he died.

Pecha said officers were still investigating Niesen’s death and weren’t yet able to say what might have been happening before they arrived.

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