Two men killed by off-duty Omaha police officers earlier this year were directly connected to narcotics trafficking, police said in a press release issued Tuesday.
The press release came ahead of the release of a grand jury’s findings about the killings.
Police declined to offer specifics, citing an ongoing joint federal investigation into “illicit narcotics activities†but said $23,333 in cash and “distribution quantities†of cocaine were found in a hidden compartment of the car in which Jonathan Hernandez-Rosales, 28, and Fernando Rodriguez-Juarez, 26, were shot and killed in February.
Two off-duty officers working security at Extasis Nightclub on the morning of Feb. 3 opened fire on a car containing the two men after Rodriguez-Juarez fired a shot in the direction of a group of people, police said in the days after the shooting. The officers were not aware of the men’s alleged connections to the drug trade at the time of the shooting.
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Authorities said at the time that the , and the Douglas County Attorney’s Office said the officers were justified in their use of deadly force. Under Nebraska law, the deaths will also be investigated by a grand jury — a group of civilians impaneled to investigate in-custody deaths and bring charges against anyone they find to be criminally liable.
Ahead of the grand jury releasing its findings, Omaha police released some information Tuesday about a narcotics investigation in which Rodriguez-Juarez and Hernandez-Rosales are allegedly implicated. According to the press release, in addition to the cash and cocaine found inside the car, an investigation into the killings resulted in seizures of “significant quantities of narcotics,†“large sums of cash†and multiple arrests and arrest warrants.
Omaha Police Lt. Neal Bonacci did not provide specifics about the amount of cash and narcotics recovered in the investigation, though he said the narcotics recovered were cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. Citing “case integrity,†police declined to identify any of the people arrested or under investigation.
The released information was vague because of an ongoing joint investigation with the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bonacci said, but the department thought it was important to release to show the public that investigations continue long after the initial incident.
“This has turned into a much larger investigation,†Bonacci said.
The Tuesday press release isn’t the first time police suggested the two men were involved in illegal activities. In an obtained by The World-Herald in March, police said a preliminary investigation into the cellphones of Rodriguez-Juarez and Hernandez-Rosales “indicates they are involved in the illicit distribution of narcotics in Omaha.â€
Asked in March why Rodriguez-Juarez and Hernandez-Rosales were named in the memo despite their deaths, Bonacci said a death doesn’t always mean the end of an investigation.
“Even if someone is deceased, if there is evidence found through cellphones or computers or things like that, that can lead to further investigation,†he said at the time.