OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Orange and red leaves scattered below the mature trees along the green belt give a sense of fall normalcy along historic Minne Lusa Boulevard.
Three nights earlier, an annual Halloween family event was ruptured by a driver that drove through the crowds down a closed street. Eventually, he was shot by a police officer on the scene. Somehow, no one was seriously injured during the incident other than the driver, who remains hospitalized and awaits charges from the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office.
A few blocks away from where the incident occurred sits Minne Lusa Elementary School, and on Thursday night Omaha Public Schools, Omaha Police, Project Harmony, and other groups greeted community members seeking emotional support.
“This is the first time we’ve put something together like this,” OPD Behavioral Health & Wellness Unit Co-Responder Shelley Pool said. “I think we’ve learned from history, even in Omaha, in big crisis events that there’s a need to process that with somebody, and you need to process that, even with total strangers.”
“This is just kind of an opportunity to work through those residual feelings,” Project Harmony deputy director Michelle Bang said. “Any time you’re involved in a chaotic something out of the ordinary where you’re not expecting it, especially if you’re a little one that you don’t understand everything that’s happening, that can be stressful, and that’s the goal here, just to share some information if their little one is struggling a little bit if they themselves are struggling so that they know what to expect in the next few weeks, and if they do need more help, they know how to get it.”
None of those from the neighborhood wanted to speak on camera. It’s too personal, one parent said. A woman said her grandparents and her grandkids were across the street from where the scene ended and the shots were fired. She wanted to learn something she could take back to her family and community to help heal.
“We can connect them [with] all the resources that are needed,” Pool said. “The parents, adults, babysitters, big brothers and sisters that had taken the little kids out for trick or treating. It’s scary. We like to say those things don’t happen here.”
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