An Omaha man was sentenced Wednesday to decades in prison for shooting his co-worker 21 times after a disagreement at work.
Octavian Sanderson, 28, pleaded guilty earlier this year to second-degree murder, use of a firearm to commit a felony, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and terroristic threats in connection with the June 2023 killing of 24-year-old Rodney Hart-Owens.
On Wednesday, Douglas County District Judge Molly Keane sentenced Sanderson to 77 to 108 years in prison.
According to testimony from an Omaha police detective at Sanderson's preliminary hearing, Sanderson and Hart-Owens were co-workers at All My Sons Moving & Storage. The two had a history of disagreements, and were typically not scheduled to work together after Sanderson repeatedly pulled a gun on Hart-Owens during arguments.
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At about 7:30 a.m. on June 8, 2023, police received multiple calls from other employees reporting a shooting at the moving company's office near 86th and F Streets. Hart-Owens was declared dead at the scene. He had been shot 21 times in the legs, arms, neck and torso.
After a verbal disagreement between the two men in the company's office, according to the detective, Sanderson drew a handgun and shot Hart-Owens in the leg. Hart-Owens fled out the garage's back door, where Sanderson chased him and continued shooting.
Hart-Owens, who had been shot in the leg and arm as he was chased by Sanderson, tried to run eastbound around the back of the building. Sanderson reloaded his gun and chased Hart-Owens, shooting him multiple times.
Hart-Owens eventually collapsed in the strip mall's parking lot, where Sanderson stood over him and unloaded another round of bullets into his body. Medical examiners removed 14 bullets from Hart-Owens' body during his autopsy and noted 21 total bullet defects.
Sanderson fled from the scene and returned to his apartment, where he allegedly told his girlfriend he would be going to prison. When interviewed, the girlfriend admitted to purchasing two firearms for Sanderson, who was barred from gun ownership after a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction from 2018.
Police took Sanderson, who was identified by multiple co-workers as the shooter, into custody outside his apartment shortly before 8 a.m. that same morning.
Sanderson will receive credit for 440 days of time served in jail while awaiting trial.