Seven Hispanics, including four children, were shot in Nebraska after a neighbor opened fire

Seven people allegedly of Hispanic origin, including four children, were shot in Crete, Nebraska, by a neighbor who opened fire from his home on the victims' property, the Nebraska State Patrol reported.

The shooter, identified as Billy Booth, 74, was found dead in his home from a self-inflicted bullet, authorities said. A history between the victims and the shooter leads to the theory that the incident may have been racially motivated.

At approximately 4:33 p.m., multiple 911 calls were placed to report an active shooter situation in the 1200 block of Crestline Drive in Crete, a city in southeastern Nebraska, Nebraska State Patrol Col. John Bolduc stated during a news conference Saturday.

Officers rushed to the scene, where shots fired by Booth could still be heard. Subsequently, a single additional shot was heard coming from a house across the street.

In a press release, authorities reported that approximately 15 people were in the house at the time of the shooting. Nearly all were in the yard when the shooting began.

At least one of the victims was inside the home.

"It was quickly determined that all gunfire had come from a single residence at 1810 Parkland Street," Bolduc said, adding that a SWAT team went to the home of the shooter, who was believed to be barricaded inside.

However, when the SWAT team entered the home around 6:40 local time, they found the suspect lying dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A shotgun was found near Booth's body at the scene.

"Preliminary investigation shows that all rounds fired by Booth came from inside of his house," Bolduc said. "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."

NBC News reported that three of the shooting victims were adults, ranging in age from 22 to 43. Four of the seven wounded were children, ranging in age from 3 to 10. Crete Police Chief, Gary Young Jr. said all of the victims are believed to be Hispanic.

At the moment, four of the victims have already been released from the hospital and three are still receiving care. All of the injured are expected to survive.

Authorities also reported that there is a history between the victims and the shooter that leads to speculation that the perpetrator may have been racially motivated.

Colonel Bolduc explained that the Crete Police had responded to "several complaints" since 2021, almost all coming from suspect Booth, who repeatedly complained about "driving behavior" in the neighborhood.

While these complaints were not directly related to the home of the injured, but rather to cars driving too fast in the neighborhood, on one occasion Booth apparently got into an argument with the victims where he used racial slurs.

"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,'" Crete Police Chief Young Jr. said.

Despite the altercation, the family did not want to escalate the case at the time, Young Jr. explained. He further detailed that Crete Police still could not determine whether or not there was radical motivation behind the shooting.

"Certainly the context of 'Go home' and 'Speak English' lends itself to that," Young Jr. said, remarking that investigations are still continuing.