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The suspect identified by police as Billy Booth opened fire from
his house in Crete with a shotgun on Friday afternoon.
Crete Police Chief Gary Young said there was a report in May
that the suspect had told the victims to go back to where they
came from and to "speak English."
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
Anti-Latino hate crimes in the U.S. have gone up in recent years
amid rhetoric surrounding immigration from Latin American
countries. Such hate crimes increased by 2.8% from 2021 to 2022
and by 41% from 2020 to 2021, according to data shared with
media by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at
California State University, San Bernardino.
Researchers also say such data can be underreported because some
immigrants are hesitant to approach police due to their
immigration status.
KEY QUOTE
Asked if there was a racial component to the shooting, the local
police chief said: "There could be. We don't know. Certainly,
the context of 'go home' and 'speak English' lends itself to
that."
CONTEXT
The seven people wounded in Friday's shooting had
non-life-threatening injuries and four were already released
from the hospital over the weekend, police told reporters in a
press briefing. The wounded children ranged from ages 3 to 10,
while the wounded adults were ages 22 to 43.
The victims were related and officials said around 15 people
were at the home when the suspect fired from his house.
Nebraska State Patrol said there was no verbal contact between
the suspect and the victims in the moments leading up to the
shooting.
Crete has about 7,000 residents and is located about 70 miles
(110 kilometers) southwest of Omaha. About half of its
population is Hispanic.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; additional reporting
by Ted Hesson; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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