The City of Omaha has at least a dozen new shooting victims this week after an active weekend of gunfire. \
Omaha Police responded to several shootings in North Omaha, with most of them being drive-bys.
“Some of the incidents do appear to be gang-related. Some of them appear that they're related to incidents that occurred over the weekend. And some of them are completely unrelated,” said OPD Lt. Kanger.
OPD’s gang unit put more officers on the street to work with uniformed patrol officers to focus on areas with an increase in gun violence.
"Whenever these things occur, we meet with all of the other investigative units and we try to determine where they occurred and why they're occurring,” he said.
Lt. Kanger said the department has stepped up its initiative to continue reducing violence. “We work with all of our other law enforcement partners. We did have a sweep earlier this week where we made several arrests which were gang members,” he said.
“We do a lot of home visits, things of that nature, if we think people are responsible or may have knowledge."
Last weekend, Omaha police chief Todd Schmaderer said this summer's gun violence was at a record low with only 10 shootings in June and July.
The chief said police would continue to work with the community to rebuild Omaha and reduce crime.
"There's going to be times when crime picks up just a little bit, and it's important that we get on top of that as much as we possibly can,” he said. “
We're looking at some of the reasons behind some of those, and that's what we focus our investigative efforts on."
Police continue to investigate each of the shootings. If you have any information call Omaha Crime Stoppers at 402-444-stop or click here for their website. Police say you can remain anonymous.
