Prosecutor says Omaha officer was justified in fatally shooting fleeing man

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A prosecutor has decided not to file charges against an Omaha police officer who fatally shot an armed Nebraska man eight times while he was fleeing.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said Monday that Officer Noah Zendejas’ “actions were justified in the shooting of Steven Phipps.”

Police showed video and still photos of what happened last week during a briefing. After Phipps was pulled over for having expired plates on Sept. 28, he ran away and scaled a chain link fence. As he fell head-first from the fence, body camera video showed Phipps holding a gun in his right hand.

“The actions of Mr. Phipps in producing a firearm at a traffic stop, not complying with officers’ commands, and Mr. Phipps’ gun barrel being pointed towards the officers during the incident justified the officers decision to use deadly force,” Kleine said in his two-paragraph statement.

The decision will disappoint community members who have been calling for accountability after Phipps’ death and another recent fatal police shooting. The families of Phipps and the other man killed by police, Cameron Ford, both attended a community meeting Sunday night to share their concerns about the shootings.

“It’s devastating, but it’s not surprising,” Steven Phipps’ aunt, Angela Phipps, said after learning about Kleine’s decision.

Two of Angela Phipps’ cousins were arrested after they left Sunday’s community meeting. Police spokesman Officer Michael Pecha said both young men had outstanding felony warrants and one of them had a gun.

Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer acknowledged last week that it was “entirely possible” that Phipps’ gun was accidentally pointed at officers because he was falling. But he questioned why Phipps still had possession of the gun and had not thrown it to the side.

Schmaderer said Zendejas also told investigators he was concerned about the risk to a public transit stop nearby. Schmaderer said the officers followed department policy

Last month, Schmaderer fired another officer who fatally shot Ford, who wasn’t armed while serving a no-knock warrant, a policy that has since been suspended in the city.

Omaha Police Officer Adam Vail was part of a SWAT team serving a search warrant during a drug and firearms investigation Aug. 28 when he fired the single shot that killed Ford, prosecutors said. Vail said Ford, who was Black, charged at him without his hands visible.

Kleine declined to charge the officer, but Schmaderer said an internal investigation found Vail violated department procedures.

“Cameron or Steven, they weren’t the first and they definitely won’t be the last, especially at this rate where no officers are being held accountable,” Angela Phipps said.

Omaha still has relatively few police shootings, but the number has been creeping up in recent years as the department seizes more and more guns each year — peaking at 1,468 in 2023, Schmaderer said. Already this year, there have been five police shootings — including four fatal ones.

In 2010, there were 11 police shootings in Omaha with six of them deadly. The number fell most years after that until hitting one in 2019, but it has been climbing since then.