Off-duty Omaha officers who fatally shot 2 men will be interviewed by investigators

OMAHA, Neb. — Investigators plan to interview two police officers who were working off duty in Nebraska’s largest city when they shot and killed two men in an SUV, a police spokesperson said Monday.

Authorities still provided few details about what led to the confrontation or what happened during it.

The two Omaha officers were working side jobs at a business around 2 a.m. Saturday when they opened fire on the men in the SUV, according to initial police statements over the weekend. The men, Fernando Rodriguez-Juarez, 26, and Jonathan Hernandez-Rosales, 28, died later at a hospital.

Officer Chris Gordon, a police spokesman, said that the officers will be interviewed Tuesday and that the department will probably release their names after that. And he said police will probably hold a news conference Thursday.

A candlelight memorial popped up at the scene Sunday, video from KETV-TV showed.

Police said over the weekend that they found a handgun in the vehicle, but they didn’t say whether it was illegal or what led the two off-duty officers to shoot the men. Police also haven’t said whether the two officers identified themselves as police or whether they were wearing their police uniforms.

One of the officers was wearing a body camera when the shooting happened, and detectives were reviewing businesses’ security footage, authorities said.

The two officers have been placed on paid leave during the investigation which is being handled by a police department team, the Nebraska State Patrol and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.