Four Omaha men accused of brazenly shoplifting electronics items from the Grand Island Best Buy store Tuesday afternoon were arrested following a multi-agency pursuit in west Omaha.
Four agencies, including an Omaha police helicopter, tracked down the suspected shoplifters.
The theft occurred shortly before 5 p.m.
The group was observed leaving the Grand Island Best Buy in a Ford Expedition. Several law enforcement agencies began searching for the vehicle as it was believed to be traveling east from Grand Island.
Officers located the vehicle, which was determined to be stolen, as it was eastbound on Nebraska 92 in Saunders County. A Wahoo police officer attempted a traffic stop, but the suspects’ vehicle struck the officer’s cruiser and fled. Omaha police helicopter Able-1 began tracking the vehicle from the air until it came to a stop in a neighborhood near 168th and Maple in Omaha.
Pilots directed units on the ground to the area as the four suspects fled on foot. Officers from several law enforcement agencies, including the Omaha Police Department, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Wahoo police and Nebraska State Patrol, began a search of the area. Three of the suspects were located and taken into custody within 10 minutes. The fourth suspect was located and taken into custody approximately two hours later. Officers located nearly $10,000 worth of stolen electronics inside the Expedition.
The suspects are Shakur Houston, 22, Johnathon Thorne, 21, Huthaifa Mesfin, 20, and Johnathan Semans, 28, all of Omaha. They were arrested for flight to avoid arrest and theft by receiving stolen property totaling $5,000 or more. Mesfin and Semans were also cited for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. As of Wednesday, all four were lodged in Douglas County Jail.
Additional charges are pending in Hall and Saunders counties.
Best Buy staff members told Grand Island police the men grabbed 31 various electronic devices. The items were valued at $9,849.69.
Grand Island Police Capt. Jim Duering described the crime as “a very overt theft. They weren’t attempting to conceal their intent. They walked in, started forcing their way past security measures and stealing the property, basically in plain view.”
The shoplifting was “very similar to what you’re seeing on the news on both coasts where they’ve decriminalized some of the property crimes,” Duering said. “But we still throw people in jail for that around here.”
Duering expressed appreciation to the other agencies “for their great work in catching these guys.”