Omaha shooting victim was ‘violent,’ wouldn’t leave shooter’s home, neighbors say

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - A South Omaha man says he shot and killed a man who was violent and refused leave his home early Tuesday morning.

Police arrived at a residence near 51st and Q streets in Omaha around 2:30 a.m. to find 40-year-old Nicholas Gomez inside the house — he’d been shot to death.

“I heard all the sirens and saw all the lights and I’m like, ‘Oh my God,’” said neighbor Rosanne Pickering. “I didn’t know what happened until this morning.”

All of this happened right across the street from Ashland Park-Robbins Elementary School. Pickering, who lives a couple houses down from the scene, says the man who lives in the home had told neighbors about his situation.

“He told me that someone’s staying there and he had just gotten out of jail, this guy,” Pickering said. “He came there to get his stuff and never left and Richard couldn’t get rid of him. He said he was in fear for his life and he couldn’t get him out because the guy is violent.”

Richard didn’t want to give his last name or appear on camera, but he talked with 6 News for several minutes.

Richard said Gomez broke into his bedroom, so he got his gun out of his safe. According to Richard, Gomez told him “I’m going to make you shoot me,” before beginning to move toward Richard, who says Gomez got within about four feet before he pulled the trigger.

Police took Richard in for questioning, but he says they dropped him off back at his house and told him that, for now, no charges are filed against him.

Pickering told 6 News that that people in the neighborhood had heard the two argue before, and Richard had asked neighbors about ways he could get Gomez out of his house.

“He wanted to know what he could do without calling the cops on him, because he’s violent, and if they left, something could happen,” Pickering said.

The shooting remains under investigation, according to Omaha Police.