Suspect Wounded During Officer-Involved Shooting Has Died

LINCOLN–(KFOR May 6)–The suspect that was shot and wounded during an incident last Monday in west Lincoln has died from his injuries.

According to a news release from the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office, 35-year-old Chase Abney died Saturday at a Lincoln hospital.  He suffered the gunshot wounds during an officer-involved shooting that involved two members of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Narcotics Task Force, who happened to be conducting a drug investigation at the Super 8 motel near Highway 77 and West “O” Street.

The two task force members, a State Patrol investigator and one from LPD, had moved across the street to the north in a vehicle.  Abney was in a vehicle with New York license plates had followed the two task force members to the parking lot in the 100 block of NW 28th Street.

The two officers got out of their vehicle and contacted Abney and gave him loud and verbal commands to get out.  Abney, who is 6-4 and 240 pounds, resisted and refused to comply before he got out of the vehicle, pulled out the gun and fired a shot.

“One trooper and the LPD officer returned fire, striking Abney,” Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner said during Tuesday morning’s media briefing.

First aid was used until paramedics took Abney to a Lincoln hospital with gunshot wounds in critical condition.  The gun Abney used was reported stolen Monday in Norfolk.  He also had outstanding warrants for disorderly conduct with a firearm and drug warrants out of New York and California, plus three domestic violence protection order violations out of New York.

Based on the preliminary investigation for the officers firing their guns, it appears “they were justified in their actions,” Wagner said.  In Abney’s vehicle, investigators found meth, marijuana and a marijuana pipe inside his vehicle.

None of the two officers involved have been identified and Abney was not the subject of the drug investigation.  Task Force members later arrested 25-year-old Dylan Johnson of Lincoln, after investigators saw him in the parking lot getting rid of multiple bags of marijuana on the ground. LPD Captain Ryan Dale said a search warrant in Johnson’s motel room recovered a full-pound of meth, half-pound of marijuana and five grams of cocaine, plus an AR style rifle.  Johnson was soon taken into custody where he faces four felony counts.

After he died Saturday, Abney was transported to the Douglas County Medical Center in Omaha where an autopsy will be performed. The autopsy is scheduled for Monday at 8:30 a.m.