Only a few days ago, it was reported that a trucker had been shot to death in an Omaha, Nebraska intersection; now, the suspect’s pickup truck has been found.
On September 18, a truck driver was the victim of a possible road rage shooting during rush hour in a busy intersection.
WOWT reported, “Witnesses have said the incident might have been linked to a case of road rage. They said Womack got out of the semi he was driving, pounded on the window of a pickup truck, said something to the pickup driver and walked back toward his truck. That’s when shots were fired from the pickup.”
The truck driver has been identified as 32-year-old James Womack, a driver for Hills Bros.
Person in semi suffers life-threatening injuries in shooting near 60th and L Streets https://t.co/LL8HEm3XeB pic.twitter.com/KK7vvcTnNB
— Omaha World-Herald (@OWHnews) September 18, 2017
A nurse passing by the scene of the shooting attempted to help the driver by performing CPR; however, the driver passed away later at the hospital.
Womack was an Army Iraq war veteran.
Nick Hill, of Hills Bros, commented on the loss of Womack saying, “He was one of the nicest & best drivers that we had. Since we’re a family run company, we treated him like one of our own family members. Not by a truck number, but by James. We’re going to miss him dearly.”
Read more about the shooting here.
Suspect’s vehicle found.
The pickup truck sought in the investigation was located by police on Tuesday night. The vehicle is a late 90’s, early 2000’s Chevy Silverado.
A tip submitted to the Crime Stoppers led troopers to the pickup’s exact location. Although the vehicle has been located, the search for the suspect is still ongoing.
Anyone else with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers at 402 444-STOP. Anyone providing a tip leading to the identification and arrest of a homicide suspect is eligible for a $25,000 reward.
The truck driver didn’t die alone.
Dash cam footage from a nearby vehicle shows multiple people abandoning their vehicles to aid Womack after he was shot.
The number of people who have tried to help this driver after the incident is perhaps the only silver lining to this story.
The dash cammer who submitted video evidence of the shooting wished to remain anonymous; however, he did state in the dash cam footage, “I clearly heard 2 gun shots.”
Later he told WOWT, “One lady said, ‘hey, we’re here to help you. One lady also offered a sweatshirt that we could put underneath him to raise his torso enough so we could safely start moving him,” the dash cammer told reporters.
The dash cammer was also coincidentally a former first responder. He said, “I chose to stabilize his neck, stabilize his airway as best I could.”
Although the truck driver was killed, it should ease some pain and suffering knowing that he did not die completely alone. Strangers were willing to rush to his aid regardless of the circumstance.
At a prayer vigil held Tuesday, friends and even strangers gathered to remember Womack.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the family. A memorial fund has also been established at American National Bank.