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• Video Below: Attorney James Martin Davis, the hospital CEO and police officials.
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A Tekamah, Neb., man who had eluded La Vista police early Wednesday was shot and critically wounded by Omaha police hours later inside the Creighton University Medical Center.
The man, Jeffrey Layten, 39, died after surgery at the medical center.
Four officers confronted Layten at a pay phone near the cafeteria inside the medical center, 601 N. 30th St. Layten turned around with a .45 handgun, and one officer fired a taser. Layten then fired his weapon and two officers returned fire.
Officer Eric Picht and Sgt. Lori Schenkelberg are the two officers who shot Layten in the chest. Also involved in the incident were Officer Lee Kerniskey and Capt. Katherine Belcastro-Gonzalez.
One officer was shot in the foot, the other in the leg, sources said. Kerniskey and Picht were the injured officers. Police described the officers' injuries as minor and said they were treated and released.
One shot that hit an officer may have ricocheted off something else, officials said.
The hospital was locked down for a short time after 10 a.m. Police needed to interview witnesses to the shooting.
No Creighton employees or visitors were injured, police said.
The hospital went into a partial lockdown when security officers and police officers were checking people to make sure they had appointments or a medical reason to be at the hospital. The emergency room never was shut down.
It was the seventh time police have shot a criminal suspect this year. Four of the shootings have been fatal.
The series of events that culminated in the shooting began Tuesday night.
Layten's estranged wife called Burt County sheriff's deputies about 11:30 p.m., saying Layten had assaulted her at her home earlier in the evening. She said he was headed to La Vista to kill his mother-in-law and sister-in-law.
Layten reportedly was armed with two rifles , a .270 and a .338-.370 along with a handgun.
He owned the Upland Fields Hunt Club, a hunting lodge near Tekamah.
One of Layten's sisters-in-law called La Vista police about 12:15 a.m. Wednesday to say that he was headed to her house to harm her. La Vista police then went to her house as well as the mother-in-law's house, said La Vista Police Chief Bob Lausten.
Lausten said Layten reportedly went to his wife's house and dragged her outside, across a parking lot and into the hunting lodge. There, Lausten said, Layten put a gun to her face and asked her who she wanted him to kill first, her mother or her sister.
La Vista police set up surveillance at the women's houses after 12:20 a.m. Five minutes later, the chief said, Layten drove by one of the houses, near 90th Street and Brentwood Drive. Officers tried to stop his pickup truck, a silver 2008 GMC Sierra K1500, but Layten sped away.
Layten led officers on a chase that reached speeds of 90 mph on Harrison Street, Lausten said.
Officers discontinued the pursuit at 72nd and Harrison Streets because of the high speeds, Lausten said.
Two minutes later, about 12:35 a.m., Ralston police reported that a pickup had crashed at 72nd and Q Streets. The driver reportedly had gotten out of the truck with a rifle.
Officers set up a perimeter around the crash scene but didn't find the driver. Officers searching for Layten later found a rifle at Fun Plex amusement park and water park near 70th and Q Streets.
Another rifle was found in the front seat of the pickup.
Lausten said officers from La Vista, Papillion, Omaha and Douglas and Sarpy Counties, along with Nebraska state troopers, had searched the area around Fun Plex, including a nearby haunted house, for nearly four hours. Lausten said a relative told officers that Layten was armed and had served in the military.
At 9:19 a.m. Wednesday, emergency dispatchers were told that a despondent man was inside Creighton University Medical Center, making phone calls from a pay phone, said Officer Jacob Bettin, an Omaha police spokesman.
On their way to the hospital, Bettin said, officers learned that the man possibly had been involved in a pursuit in La Vista. When they arrived at Creighton, Bettin said, they coordinated with Creighton security staff and located Layten. The officers shot Layten after they contacted him, Bettin said.
Jeff Mumm, 32, a lawn service worker, said he was getting ready to cut weeds around the hospital when he saw two officers on the east side of the building. They asked Mumm if he had seen a man talking on the phone.
Mumm then walked into the hospital, acting as if he was going to get a drink of water. He said he saw a man wearing a coat and baseball cap using a pay phone. Mumm went back outside and told the officers what he had seen.
The officers went inside. Mumm, hearing several gunshots, said he stayed next to a concrete wall.
Rescue crews were called to the scene at 9:53 a.m. Police cruisers blocked entrances to the hospital.
Students at nearby Creighton University were advised to avoid the hospital.
Layten and two of the officers who responded were taken to the emergency room at the medical center for treatment. Layten was taken to surgery and was in extremely critical condition. He died at 2:23 p.m., Bettin said.
Dr. Robert Fitzgibbons said he was in surgery on the hospital's third floor when the shooting occurred.
He said his staff told him what they knew when he returned to his office about 10 a.m. He said he soon received a call from his daughter in Lincoln asking if he was OK.
Fitzgibbons said one of his employees had been on the first floor and had heard a shot. Fitzgibbons said the worker told him that hospital security had hustled people into a first-floor waiting room after the shooting.
Dr. Russell Hopp said he was in a pediatric clinic on the sixth floor when an announcement came over the public address system that the hospital was in lockdown. He said staff locked doors to the clinic and told parents that they couldn't leave.
He said parents and children stayed calm and the kids watched cartoons on TV.
Under standard procedure, the officers involved in the shooting will be on paid administrative leave while the department investigates what happened.
World-Herald staff writers Michael O'Connor, Todd Cooper, Andrew J. Nelson, Kevin Cole and Bob Glissmann contributed to this report.
Contact the writer:
444-1279, jason.kuiper@owh.com
• Attorney James Martin Davis talks about the man shot by officers:
• Creighton University Medical Center CEO talks to the news media:
• Jacob Bettin of OPD talks to the news media:
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