By Kanishka Singh
(Reuters) – A shooting on Friday in Crete, Nebraska, that wounded seven Guatemalan immigrants, including four children, may have been racially motivated, police said, and the suspect later committed suicide.
The suspect, identified by police as Billy Booth, opened fire with a shotgun from his home in Crete on Friday afternoon.
Crete Police Chief Gary Young said there was a report in May stating the suspect had told the victims to go back where they came from and “speak English.”
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
Anti-Latino hate crimes in the U.S. have increased in recent years amid rhetoric surrounding immigration from Latin American countries. Such hate crimes increased 2.8% from 2021 to 2022 and 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 say such data may be underreported because some immigrants are reluctant to go to the police because of their immigration status.
MAIN QUOTE
When asked if there was a racial component to the shooting, the local police chief said, “It could be. We don’t know. The context of ‘go home’ and ‘speak English’ certainly lends itself to that.”
CONTEXT
The seven people wounded in Friday’s shooting had non-life-threatening injuries and four had been released from the hospital over the weekend, police told reporters at a news conference. The injured children were between the ages of 3 and 10, while the injured adults were between the ages of 22 and 43.
The victims were related and authorities said there were about 15 people in the home when the suspect fired shots from his house.
According to the Nebraska State Patrol, there was no verbal contact between the suspect and the victims prior to the shooting.
Crete has a population of about 7,000 and is located about 70 miles (110 kilometers) southwest of Omaha. About half of the population is Hispanic.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; additional reporting by Ted Hesson; editing by Bill Berkrot)
