Search fatalities

Jeffrey Duane Smith

Age : 33

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 08/16/2021

Location : 1823 2nd Avenue, Apartment B

City : Kearney

County : Buffalo

State : Nebraska

Agency : Kearney Police Department; Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office; Nebraska State Patrol

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Suicide

Event : Suicide under police duress

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/16/2021, 33-year-old Jeffrey Duane Smith died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during an approximately five-hour police and SWAT standoff at 1823 2nd Avenue, Apartment B, in Kearney. The confrontation involved Kearney police, Buffalo County sheriff’s deputies, the Nebraska State Patrol SWAT team and the Kearney/Buffalo County Emergency Services Unit.
Earlier that morning, the Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office began searching for Smith after two women were shot at a residence west of Elm Creek. Police alleged that Smith forced his way into the residence at approximately 2:40 a.m. and shot a 35-year-old woman and her 63-year-old mother. Several children were inside the residence but were not physically injured. Both women survived and were transferred to an Omaha hospital for treatment.
At approximately 11 a.m., the sheriff’s office received information that Smith was inside the apartment on 2nd Avenue in Kearney. Kearney police officers, Buffalo County sheriff’s deputies and Nebraska State Patrol troopers surrounded the residence. An adult woman confirmed to police that Smith was inside alone.
Police deployed the Kearney/Buffalo County Emergency Services Unit and Nebraska State Patrol SWAT. Authorities closed 2nd Avenue between 17th and 21st streets, closed several surrounding streets and directed nearby residents to shelter in place. Kearney Public Schools placed its buildings into secure status because of the police operation.
Negotiators established cellphone communication with Smith and spoke with him for several hours. Police also brought two armored vehicles and a tactical robot to the scene and requested additional equipment and assistance from the Grand Island and Hastings police departments.
After hours of negotiations, police escalated the tactical operation by using less-lethal chemical munitions inside the apartment. During the continuing standoff, an officer heard what police believed was a single gunshot from inside the residence.
Rather than immediately sending officers inside, police used a tactical robot to enter and search the apartment. The robot located Smith dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. No police officer fired a service weapon during the standoff.
Kearney police classified Smith’s death as an in-custody death and requested that investigators from the Grand Island Police Department and South-Central Area Law Enforcement Services lead the investigation rather than having the agencies directly involved in the standoff investigate the death themselves.
Later reporting did not identify police gunfire, physical contact with officers or another person inside the apartment as causing Smith’s fatal injury. The available evidence continued to describe his death as suicide during the active SWAT operation.
Smith's full identity was Jeffrey Duane Smith, and contemporary reporting gave his date of birth as 02/29/1988. The later publicly indexed record does not appear to contain a substantial civil lawsuit, settlement or subsequent finding contradicting the determination that Smith died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.cityofkearney.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/8353
https://kgfw.com/2021/08/16/police-standoff-with-shooting-suspect-in-kearney/
https://www.wowt.com/2021/08/16/update-standoff-kearney-comes-an-end/
https://www.ksnblocal4.com/2021/08/17/update-police-standoff-kearney-ends-death-suspect/
https://www.ksnblocal4.com/2021/08/16/buffalo-county-sheriffs-office-investigating-possible-shooting-elm-creek/
https://northplattepost.com/posts/a6c5fa02-d3fa-491e-87e2-271ab0c7b348
https://www.klkntv.com/buffalo-county-searching-for-shooting-suspect/
https://nebraska.tv/news/local/buffalo-county-sheriffs-office-looking-for-suspect-involved-in-shooting-and-home-invasion-jeffrey-duane-smith