The Associated Press | Posted: Friday, September 22, 2006 7:00 pm
OMAHA — In the past 12 months, 20-year-old Brontea Evans has been hit by gunfire four times in north Omaha, mostly recently Friday morning outside a convenience store.
Also struck Friday was 19-year-old Quantal Blake, who was taken to Nebraska Medical Center in “very critical condition,” while Evans’ wound was not believed to be life-threatening.
Police reports say Evans was shot in a leg on Sept. 16, on Aug. 27 and on a hand in Sept. 29, 2005. The location of his wounds Friday and in August were not available.
Evans has had brushes with the law, including several stints in jail for crimes including providing false information to police, trespassing, and for obstructing law enforcement officers.
On Saturday, a police spokesman could not say what led to the men’s shootings Friday morning.
The incident was only the latest near the Pleasantview public housing complex in north Omaha.
Community residents have been calling for more police presence in the troubled area, which Chief Thomas Warren has promised.
More officers won’t come too soon for Ketw Verade, the owner of the K-N-J Express store where Evans and Blake were hit.
Verade, an Ethiopian immigrant, has owned the store for 1½ years.
In his former country, thousands have died from war, political violence and disease born of poverty.
In his north Omaha neighborhood, there is poverty, and the young people are shooting and killing each other as well.
Two men have been shot to death outside his store — one on Sept. 3, the other in January last year.
The possible danger hasn’t kept customer Joey Clemments away from the store because, he said, “I don’t think (the violence) has anything to do with the store.”
“It’s more, who is after you or who is looking for you.”