Victim of New Year's Day shooting dies
ARNOLD — Three felony charges were filed Tuesday in connection with a New Year’s Day shooting in this Custer County town, less than a day after a 21-year-old man died at a Kearney hospital.
Seth Strasburg, 27, has been charged with second-degree murder, terroristic threats and using a firearm to commit a felony in the shooting death of Thomas “Tiff” Varney. Both men are from Arnold.
Strasburg was arraigned Tuesday and bond was set at $750,000, according to Custer County Attorney Tami Schendt’s office.
Varney was pronounced dead at 9:50 p.m. Monday night at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney.
Nebraska State Patrol spokeswoman Deb Collins said Varney had been kept alive on life support so his organs could be donated.
Strasburg was arrested after a standoff south of Arnold, Collins said.
The shooting occurred about 1:30 a.m. Sunday at a residence. The suspect had fled before authorities arrived, Collins said.
The suspect was later involved in a single-vehicle accident south of town, abandoned his vehicle and ran into some nearby brush, Collins said.
A state trooper, who was tipped to the suspect’s identity by witnesses, called Strasburg on a cell phone, Collins said. Strasburg told the trooper that he would shoot anyone who came near him, she said. The trooper requested a SWAT team, negotiator and State Patrol aircraft.
Officers aboard the State Patrol plane, using heat-detecting equipment, spotted the suspect, and he was taken into custody without incident at 7:24 a.m., Collins said.
Arnold, population 630, is located 36 miles northeast of North Platte.
Seth Strasburg, 27, has been charged with second-degree murder, terroristic threats and using a firearm to commit a felony in the shooting death of Thomas “Tiff” Varney. Both men are from Arnold.
Strasburg was arraigned Tuesday and bond was set at $750,000, according to Custer County Attorney Tami Schendt’s office.
Varney was pronounced dead at 9:50 p.m. Monday night at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney.
Nebraska State Patrol spokeswoman Deb Collins said Varney had been kept alive on life support so his organs could be donated.
Strasburg was arrested after a standoff south of Arnold, Collins said.
The shooting occurred about 1:30 a.m. Sunday at a residence. The suspect had fled before authorities arrived, Collins said.
The suspect was later involved in a single-vehicle accident south of town, abandoned his vehicle and ran into some nearby brush, Collins said.
A state trooper, who was tipped to the suspect’s identity by witnesses, called Strasburg on a cell phone, Collins said. Strasburg told the trooper that he would shoot anyone who came near him, she said. The trooper requested a SWAT team, negotiator and State Patrol aircraft.
Officers aboard the State Patrol plane, using heat-detecting equipment, spotted the suspect, and he was taken into custody without incident at 7:24 a.m., Collins said.
Arnold, population 630, is located 36 miles northeast of North Platte.
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