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Police chief: Von Maur threat was good practice

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BY CORY MATTESON / Lincoln Journal Star

Wednesday, Mar 19, 2008 - 08:55:06 pm CDT

A man.  A knife. Von Maur.

Those key words, in the initial dispatch received by Lincoln Police at 11:07 a.m. Tuesday, echoed that December day in Omaha, even when many other details didn’t.

“Is that in your mind?” Lincoln Police Capt. Jim Thoms said.

Story Photo
A Lincoln police officer and police dog search the outskirts of the Von Maur parking lot Tuesday. (Heidi Hoffman)

“Yes.”

But the police response he led Tuesday wasn’t skewed by the words “Von Maur,” he said.

“Does that change anything?

“No.”

The report of a man with a butcher knife walking twice through Lincoln’s Von Maur wasn’t the same type of threat Omaha authorities received Dec. 5 and responded to six minutes after that first call of gunshots came in.

In Lincoln on Tuesday, an emergency dispatcher was told during the initial call, at 11:05 a.m., that the man hadn’t been in Von Maur for the past 10 minutes, Chief Tom Casady said.

To police, it was a nonemergency situation at the time, he  said.

And the time it took police to respond to the store — nine minutes from the initial call to emergency dispatchers — was adequate, he said.

Police were dispatched to Von Maur at 11:07. The first officers arrived at 11:14 a.m.

The number of officers who eventually came to Von Maur and SouthPointe Pavilions — 12 uniformed police, a dozen or more plainclothes officers and two Nebraska State Patrol canine units — came because there was a large area to search and a man with a knife to find.

“The last thing you want to do is not have a proper response,” Thoms said.

Employees and shoppers were evacuated. Police arrived, set up a perimeter around the store and went in Von Maur with guns drawn to look for the man.

No assaults or threatening acts were initially reported, Casady said. The man was perhaps in his 60s, and described as wearing plaid.

Thoms said video from the nearby Scheels sporting goods store seemed to indicate a man matching the description sharpened his knife there, then left. Police didn’t find the man, and he hadn’t called police as of Wednesday afternoon.

Every response, Thoms said, is incident-driven. So even though the threat of bodily injury appeared low, according to the initial description given to police by the caller, the geographic scope was great.

 The search soon moved out of the store, and officers and police dogs went through the mall. By 12:45 p.m., police determined the man wasn’t in the area.

If the events of Tuesday had taken place in any spacious Lincoln store, Thoms said, the response would be the same. And he said he understood the concern Von Maur employees had about the man.

“I think Von Maur acted properly,” Thoms said. “Everything was resolved. Nobody was hurt.”

“It was probably pretty good practice,” Casady said.

Perhaps next time, the man will not walk through a clothing store on his way to Scheels to sharpen a knife.

“It’s liable to make people wonder what in the world is going on,” Casady said.

Reach Cory Matteson at 473-2655 or cmatteson@journalstar.com.


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Big Chief wrote on March 19, 2008 8:37 pm:
" I rode around Southpointe and the Scheel's and Von Maur entrances. I did not see any NO WEAPONS signs posted on any of the outdoor entrances at Von Maur, Barnes & Nobel and Scheel's. Incidentally when I rode by the East entrance of Scheel's a gentleman with two cased rifles was leaving the store.
Is there a No Guns policy at any of the Southpointe Mall stores?

I recently made a call to the security department at the whatever they call Gateway Mall now. My simple question for their head of security was If they allowed CCW permit holders to carry on their premises? I could not get an answer. "
Disappointed wrote on March 19, 2008 8:44 pm:
" The response would not have been the same if it were another store. The entire country is so jumpy because of school shootings and the Von Maur incident from December. People need to accept that things like this are, sadly, always going to happen. However, spending that many tax dollars because an old man needed a knife sharpened is just pathetic. "
Concerned Citizen wrote on March 19, 2008 9:47 pm:
" Okay so let me make sure I get this right. A man, with a knife, walks through a store, doesn't make any threatening gestures and doesn't attempt to conceal the knife but someone deems him as a threat. I don't get it, I feel bad for the guys who have box cutters or plyers, watch out they might be "assasins" or "terrorists." In this day in age we are scaring ourselves as a society. We take IRAQ, guys with knifes, the Choa incident, Columbine, and others and freak out. When are we going to be able to walk down the street and not worry about an old man in a car approaching us next to a school, or a fellow college student comming in and shooting us. This is rediculous. For those folks out there that are thinking of doing something studpid, I'm sorry you didn't get enough hugs, but get REAL. "
big fist wrote on March 20, 2008 12:13 am:
" Heaven help us if somebody clubs a shopper to death with a purse with a brick in it, or somebody is stabbed with a sharpened broomhandle or a screwdriver. LOOK OUT FOR GRANNY CARRYIN' THE FRYIN' PAN. What then? Strip searching at the entrances to all stores and mall areas? Come on people. Get a grip on reality. What a waste of our tax money. "
gee wrote on March 20, 2008 7:33 am:
" Take the store out of it. Have the "old guy" walk through your neighborhood carrying a knife and decide how much Police presence you want. After the fact this does appear to be overkill. None of this would have happened had the nice old guy opted to carry the knife in a sack or other container instead of in plain view. The fear factor goes up. We are saturated with what could happen. Press coverage of this Mickey Mouse BS does nothing but encourage copy-cat future events. When was the last time one of the gutless suicidal types didn't burn in without some reference to Columbine. The press makes these guys modern day Jesse James. Given the choice between A) killing yourself and B) killing yourself while becoming a household name with line after line of printed statements from family and friends saying what a wonderful person you were and what a surprise this is and how they wished they'd seen it coming. Which option would most twisted minds take?

Yep, overkill by the store employees who called, overkill by the Police who responded, dumb move by the guy with the knife. Two days worth of press coverage fertilizing that seed in the twisted portion of some-one's mind saying why go out alone when I can go out a hero? "
The law wrote on March 20, 2008 8:55 am:
" It's illegal to conceal the knife. It's called carrying a concealed weapon. He did just what he was supposed to do. Parking right by Scheel's would have been a better option. Oh yeah and Scheel's sells guns-you can hardly ban them from a mall where they are sold. Also, if you carry the gun in plain sight you aren't breaking any laws...you are if you conceal it w/o a permit. "
JT wrote on March 20, 2008 9:05 am:
" I totally agree. This was overkill. People are making a mountain about a mole hill. If the guy would have put the knife in a sack, would he have been guilty of carrying a concealed weapon? He was not threatening anybody, so why did they make such a big deal? "
Tom Casady wrote on March 20, 2008 9:36 am:
" Okay, let's face it: carrying a big 'ol knife through an upscale department store who's sister store 45 miles away was the scene of a recent mass murder is not exactly a great idea. I can certainly understand why it made people a little jumpy. Had we not searched the area pretty thoroughly (and ultimately determined that the man appeared to have been on his way to Scheel's for a knife sharpening) the same detractors would be trashing us in the opposite direction. The psychics were taken out of the police budget years ago. "
concerned parent wrote on March 20, 2008 11:44 am:
" Being a parent I am concerned with the schools in the area. There was absolutely no lock down initiated but since police could not find the person they assumed it was a harmless situation. Hmm........there are several situations around the world that the least likely type of people are the type no one suspects of doing harm. "
McGruff wrote on March 20, 2008 12:35 pm:
" I'm glad there are plenty of officers per capita to deal with a kitchen utensil in a department store. Good for us Lincolnites for behaving ourselves better than those silly Omahans so that the police are freed up enough to respond to things like this. "
AD - Casady: Educate the public wrote on March 20, 2008 1:14 pm:
" What is the proper/legal/safe procedure for a person wanting to take a huge knife to Sheels for sharpening? What is the proper/legal/safe procedure for a customer purchasing fire arms at Sheels? This is an open air mall - people walk thru one store to get to another to avoid the weather or take a shortcut. How about the police department/mall take this opportunity to educate the public and how to avoid this type of hysteria in the future. "
The Matador wrote on March 20, 2008 3:23 pm:
" So if something did happen, the guy turned out to be a nutcase and attacked a few shoppers would everyone posting here be blaming LPD if they didn't send a load of force? I'm glad they are always ready and able to send enough manpower to secure the complex if needed. Also- how much did this really cost taxpayers? I assume with the given response time they were pretty much on duty anyways! "
deputyDawg wrote on March 20, 2008 8:59 pm:
" While I think the response was warrented, I certainly hope LPD didn't take away officers from the crucial mission of harassing high school drivers & speed traps. After all, one must have priorities. "
J wrote on March 20, 2008 9:28 pm:
" You can buy weapons at Southpointe, why would they want to ban them. As a person who purchases knives, guns, etc., if they did have such a ban I would start doing business somewhere else. "
jill wrote on March 20, 2008 9:35 pm:
" to "concerned parent." i go to southwest and we were in lock down. no one left the building and no body came in until the issue was resolved. and by the time school got out it was resolved. so maybe you should think before you speak and get your facts straight. scott middle school was also in a lock down too. and just to let you know, administration doesn't tell the students that we're in lock down. most of the students didn't even know we were in one. there is no need to tell students. it just gets them distracted. the teachers knew and that's the way it should be. and being in lock down doesn't mean that we go and hide in the class room and turn off the lights like you do in a code red. those are 2 different things. it's not like he was in the building. "
Mike wrote on March 20, 2008 9:42 pm:
" It's a knife people, not a nuclear weapon. Stop with the run, hide and/or evacuate tactics. If it was such an "evil" thing to do, why not confront the person and see what his story is? I can assure you I am not going to hide and cry if I see a knife! When will this country grow a pair? "
dough nut wrote on March 20, 2008 11:06 pm:
" This little "practice exercise" probably didn't cost the taxpayers as the police were already on duty. Although it probably cost the coffee shops and doughnut shops in that area plenty until the issue was resolved "
If it had been... wrote on March 20, 2008 11:11 pm:
" If it had been a person intent on doing harm all of the 911 calls and all of the police response would have been too late. It takes just a few seconds to stab or shoot someone.
The point is you can't protect people from all possible harm without living in a self-imposed prison. I'd rather take the risk (it really is quite small despite the hype) than give up my freedom.
I am thankful we do have the police to respond in the event of a real attack, but you are in denial if you think the police can prevent it. Police respond after the fact. "

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