Nebraska man shoots 7 neighbors, including 4 kids, after telling them ‘go back to where you came from’

A Nebraska man reportedly shot seven of his neighbors , including children, in a potentially racially motivated attack before turning the gun on himself.

Billy Booth, 74, is alleged to have previously told his victims - all believed to be Hispanic - to “go back to where they came from” and to “speak English,” according to police. The incident happened Friday early evening inside the gunman's Crete home and saw four children, aged between three and 10, and three adults, aged between 22 and 43, injured.

None of them suffered life-threatening injuries but Booth was found dead at the scene with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Around 15 people were at Booth's home on Crestline Drive at the time of the shooting. The majority were in the yard but at least one person was hit while inside the house.

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One victim included Alberto Bautista, who was shot along with his wife and their grandson as children were playing outside, reports Lexington Clipper-Herald . Six of the victims were taken to the hospital and a seventh only realized later on in the evening that he was injured. A total of four have been released with three still receiving care, including two in a children’s hospital in Omaha.

A SWAT team responded to the property to apprehend what was thought to be "a barricaded subject." Nebraska State Patrol Colonel John Bolduc said: "It was quickly determined that all gunfire had come from a single residence at 1810 Parkland Street."

Police entered the home at around 6.40pm and discovered Booth dead with a shotgun close by him, reports NBC News . "Preliminary investigation shows that all rounds fired by Booth came from inside of his house," said Bolduc before adding that, "investigators are still actively working this investigation to understand everything that occurred, but at this point, we don't believe there was any verbal contact between the suspect and any of the victims in the moments that led up to the shooting."

Authorities said that there was a history of disputes between Booth and the victims' families, including multiple complaints stretching back to 2021, the majority of which came from the deceased. Crete Police Chief Gary Young Jr said: "Not necessarily associated with the victims' house, but cars driving too fast in the neighborhood, improper parking, nuisance properties, quality-of-life type issues.

"There was a single report from the victims that the suspect had flipped them off, told them to 'Go home' or 'back to where they came from,' to 'Speak English.'" The family chose not to pursue the matters further at the time, according to the police.

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Joshua Morales, a friend of one of the victims, told KETV that he was aware of previous incidents involving Booth and believed that the shootings were racially motivated. He said: “[Booth] was supposedly telling [the friend’s] parents to go back to their country, and they got into problems. And I guess until now the dude just shot the house up. I guess it was just a racist thing that happened. So, I guess the dude that shot them was just racist ’cause he shot a Hispanic family and he told a Hispanic family to go back to their country.”

When asked if race played a part in the shootings, Young replied: "There could be, we don't know. Certainly the context of 'Go home' and 'Speak English' lends itself to that," he said. An investigation into Booth's motives remains ongoing as police asked for anyone with any information about the case to come forward.