The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have released details regarding a shooting incident in Omaha, Nebraska, involving Juan Ayala Ramos, a Salvadoran national who entered the United States illegally in 2007. According to authorities, Ayala Ramos shot and seriously injured a 61-year-old civilian and four police officers during two separate shootings on December 3.
Local reports indicate that Ayala Ramos allegedly shot Michael Kasper, 61, while Kasper was loading groceries into his car outside an Omaha grocery store. Police later tracked Ayala Ramos to a QuikTrip gas station where he barricaded himself inside a bathroom stall. Body camera footage provided by the Omaha Police Department shows Ayala Ramos exiting the stall and firing at officers near the entryway. Officers returned fire and fatally shot him. Four officers were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
“This violent criminal illegal from El Salvador shot four police officers and a 61-year-old man in cold blood in Omaha on December 3. Despite multiple previous criminal arrests, he remained at large in American communities,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.“DHS sends our condolences to Michael Kasper, who is in serious condition, and all officers involved in these horrific attacks and prayers for a full recovery. We are thankful for the Omaha Police Department for their brave actions to stop this criminal’s shooting rampage.”
Ayala Ramos had previously been arrested for assault by strangulation in 2019 as well as burglary and possession of a stolen firearm in 2021. After entering the U.S. illegally as an unaccompanied minor in June 2007, his removal case was administratively closed by an immigration judge later that year.
According to the Omaha Police Department, six officers were involved with the incident: Sergeant Emilio Luna (Gang Unit), Detective Brock Rengo (Assault Unit), Detective Jordan Brandt (Gang Unit), Detective Christopher Brown (Gang Unit), Detective Kyle Graber (Gang Unit), and Sergeant Jonathon Holtrop (Uniform Patrol Bureau). Of those, Luna sustained a gunshot wound to his foot; Rengo suffered a grazing gunshot wound to his leg; Brandt received a gunshot wound to his leg; Brown sustained shrapnel injury to his foot; while Graber and Holtrop were also present at the scene.
