Lincoln man charged with attempted murder
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By LORI PILGER / Lincoln Journal Star
Prosecutors charged a 35-year-old Lincoln man Tuesday with attempted murder for a shooting in a grocery parking lot six days ago.
William Edward Smith -- of 220 N.W. 23rd St., No. 1, according to court records -- turned himself in to police a day earlier for the Nov. 13 shooting outside the Save-Mart parking lot near North 11th and Cornhusker Highway.
At a hearing Tuesday, Deputy County Attorney Amy Jacobsen read the charges against him: attempted murder in the second-degree, use of a firearm to commit a felony and first-degree assault.
She told him the charges carry 1 to 50 years each on the first two, 1 to 20 on the last.
Then County Judge Jean Lovell set Smith’s percentage bond at $1 million, which means he must come up with $100,000 to get out of jail.
Jacobsen said Smith has twice failed to appear for court, was on supervised release on a federal case and had a pending drug case in Douglas County.
In last week’s case, police say Smith followed a 23-year-old Lincoln man to the parking lot just after midnight, shooting him as the victim got out of a rented limousine.
The victim told police he had been out celebrating his cousin’s 21st birthday that night and ended up at The Spigot, 1624 O St.
There, he said, he got into a disturbance with the man who eventually shot him and was asked to leave.
He left in the rented limousine. Police allege Smith followed the victim to Save-Mart and shot the victim once in the chest as he walked toward the grocery store.
The bullet that hit the 23-year-old collapsed his lung, cracked his rib and damaged his liver before exiting his lower back, said Officer Katie Flood.
His injuries were not considered life-threatening.
Flood said bullets hit a Pepsi machine and the west door of the store, too.
She said police recovered nine shell casings at the scene but not a weapon.
Reach Lori Pilger at 473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com. Reporter Hilary Kindschuh contributed to this story.
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