Fatal shooting at Lincoln bar raises questions over unregulated gun, security markets (2024)

When a 24-year-old security guard working at a downtown Lincoln bar shot and killed Gregory Little. Jr. at around 3 a.m. April 7— after Little had reached for a handgun that had fallen from thesecurity guard's own tactical vest—he did not commit a crime, prosecutors have said.

In a statement last month announcing his office's decision not to charge the bouncer with a crime in Little's shooting death, Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon said it was the consensus of police investigators and prosecutors "that the security guard’s actions were justified under the totality of the circ*mstances."

Condonpointed in the statement to his office's burden to prove that the security guard had not acted in self-defense when he fired four shots toward Little outside the Royal Hookah Bar & Lounge that morning, hitting the 32-year-old twice.

The security guard's belief that Little "posed an imminent risk (of) death or serious bodily injury was a reasonable one," Condon said in the statement, adding that "there is no evidence to believe that the security guard provoked" the altercation that preceded Little's shooting "or that he could have avoided the necessity of using deadly force with complete safety by retreating."

Little's shooting, though, has raised questions over why the security guard— who authorities have repeatedly declined to identify— was armed with multiple guns but has escaped public scrutiny in a way that other fatal shooters in Nebraska have not.

The case, too, is at the intersection of two largely uncontrolled markets in Nebraska, where there is no regulatory body overseeing private security guards or companies, and where lawmakers have taken steps in recent years to expand gun rights, allowing people to carry concealed weapons without a permit or previously required gun safety training.

The U.S. Supreme Court, meanwhile, struck down a ban Friday onbump stocks enacted by former President Donald Trump's administration after a deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017. And a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that many firearm owners in the U.S. do not securely store their guns, even when the weapon is kept loaded and there are children in the home.

"We no longer have any standard for guns in public by everyday people," said Melody Vaccaro, the director of the advocacy groupNebraskans Against Gun Violence. "Maybe people know that, if they've been paying attention; maybe they don't. But there are no standards— at all.

"You can get a gun. You don't have to do any sort of background check, depending on the state (where) you buy it, and you can bring it to Nebraska. ... And then you have no standard for how you are to behave or interact in any way when you bring that gun into public. And that's just for everyday people.

"This story about the security guard is a little different than everyday people because security guards are noteveryday people."

Reasonable doubt

The decision not to charge the security guard in Little's shooting death was at the discretion of local prosecutors, who under Condon have taken at least one fatal shooting case to trial that resulted inthe defendant being acquitted after his attorney argued the shooting was self-defense.

In another case last year, prosecutors moved to dismissmurder charges they had filed against a Lincoln man after they determined they could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was not acting in self-defense when he fatally shot another man outside a downtown strip club in 2022.

"You have a hard standard for prosecutors: they have to provebeyond a reasonable doubt that this person did all the things that are the elements of the crime," said Dick Clark, a Lincoln-based criminal defense and gun law attorney.

"And if they think they're gonna fail because there's at least a plausible self-defense argument that can be raised by the defense counsel at trial, maybe they're saying, 'Boy, you know, we're gonna get beat up for being against defenders or against businesses in Lincoln — and then we're gonna potentially lose the case and look even worse.'

"So maybe that's the call they're making. I don't know. The county attorney's an elected official, and so they certainly keep their eye on the public pulse there, I think."

In an email, Condon said "it is the ethical duty of a prosecutor not to file a criminal charge" unless they believe they could prove every element of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt.

He also said his office had not treated Little's shooting differently than prior self-defense cases— or any prior case.

"After a thorough and independent review of all the available evidence in the death of Mr. Little, as well as applicable Nebraska law, the Lancaster County Attorney’s Office has determined that no criminal charges should be filed as it cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt all the elements of a crime," Condon said.

He did not answer emailed questions about whether the security guard had a permit to carry his firearm,what company he worked for or the extent of his firearms training.

Nebraska law bans the use of deadly force even in self-defense "unless there's one of four things either underway or just right on the doorstep of happening," Clark said.

"Somebody's gonna die, somebody's gonna be seriously injured, somebody's gonna be raped or somebody's gonna be kidnapped," he said.

Police have said that someone from Little's group had grabbed a baton from one of the three security guards working the bar that morning and, as the altercation spilled outside, a skirmish ensued as the guards tried to retrieve the baton.

That's when, video shows, the 24-year-old security guard squared up with a man in a white T-shirt— a member of Little's group, police say — and traded punches with the man. The man in white knocked a handgun loose that had been affixed to the guard's tactical vest.

Within five seconds of the handgun hitting the sidewalk along O Street, video shows, Little had reached for the gun and the security guard had drawn another from his waistband, firing the first of four shots toward Little.

He died of his injuries at a local hospital.

"If you pick up a gun, typically, it's because you're gonna threaten to shoot or shoot somebody with the gun in that circ*mstance, if you grab a gun in a fight— at least that's potentially a reasonable inference on the part of another person," Clark said. "You've got a split second to react."

"At that point, if he's shooting a person who just grabbed a gun, there is at least some nugget of a reasonable standard being met there," he added.

Vaccaro, though, is skeptical of the prosecutor's decision— and the shrouded process that led to it.

"How do you kill somebody and we don't know your name?" she said, later adding: "There is no due process for the dead if this is the process. ... We don't even know if they were actually in danger, we don't know if they did the right or wrong thing. That's all up for debate. And there's no due process around it.

"That's nuts. This isn't even about gun rights. It's literal —there is supposed to be due process. The judicial system, the prosecution, whatever that system is called— it is completely cowardice around guns."

Nebraska law puts no limit on the number of guns a person may carry, openly or concealed.

But, Clark said, the potential negligence displayed by the security guard in the lead up to Little's shooting could provide grounds for a civil lawsuit.

"And maybe a jury would agree with them that, 'Hey, maybe the only reason Gregory Little Jr. went for the gun is because a gun tumbled out in front of him and he panicked," he said, later adding: "Who knows what somebody thought in that moment? And to me, that might be a totally reasonable response by him."

Two unregulated markets

In Nebraska, you need formal training or a state occupational license to teach school, give body piercings, paint or cut nails and style hair. The same is true for massage therapists, funeral directors and anyone working withasbestos.

No such regulations exist for private bouncers or security guards, who since September have been allowed — along with every other Nebraskan 21 or older—to carry concealed weapons without a permit.

State lawmakers last year passed LB77, eliminating prior regulations that required Nebraskans topass a criminal background check, pay a $100 fee and take an eight- to 16-hour gun safety class before they could be permitted to carry a concealed handgun.

Nebraskans can still obtain a concealed carry permit, which is required in some states to carry a concealed handgun even if the carrier hails from a state that doesn't require a permit.

It's unclear if the security guard who shot Little had a permit or any formal training.

Little's family hasraised questions over why the guard was armed with multiple guns. The hookah bar's owner told state liquor regulators this month thatthe security company had told him they had "Omaha security experience," but he he was not sure if they had any other training.

"I trusted them," Jamil Khoudeida, the bar's owner,said. "I did not know he had that many guns."

Prior to September, the guard would have, at a minimum, been required to complete a daylong gun safety course to have concealed the gun he pulled from his waistband the moment before he shot Little.

"It's a long, long day," said Julie Delp, a concealed handgun permit training provider in Lincoln who said her course — which has seen decreased enrollment since LB77 took effect — typically lasts 12 hours.

There is instruction on the mechanics of a handgun and the components of its ammunition, she said.

There is a review of state and federal laws on where handgun owners can and cannot conceal and carry their handguns, she said, and a similar legal review over when use of deadly force might be justified.

There is a lesson on the psychology and the "fight or flight instinct" that takes hold when a situation turns tense or dangerous.

"And then we talk about one of the most important things we focus on in the class," Delp said. "Situational awareness, deescalation and avoidance.

"What I tell my students is: 'The purpose of this class is to teach you how to never have to use your firearm by being aware of your surroundings and being safe and using common sense in approaches to altercations. Remove yourself from the situation if at all possible and deescalate, don't rise to debate."

In Little's case, Delp was skeptical of the security guard's efforts to secure the firearm that fell from his tactical vest, but said, after reading a description of the shooting, that the guardwas "in fear of his life and had the right to use lethal force."

A staunch supporter of the Second Amendment,Delp said she encourages her students to be "good ambassadors" as gun owners. She believes in the merits of the "constitutional carry" law Nebraska's Legislature passed last year.

"But I also believe a responsible person has that responsibility to get trained," she said. "If they're gonna be serious about doing this, do seek out the training.

"It's just like any other sport. If you're gonna be a NASCAR driver, you don't go just jump in the car and take off. You've got to train. You have to know what the car can do. You have to know how to manage the track."

In Nebraska, though, such responsibility is not required by law or regulation— even for security guards, who operate in "a dynamic and informal market," said Clark.

The laws governing Nebraska’s private policing industry — the closest thing the state has on the books to regulations of private security forces — have not been amended at all since 1993. The industry's basic regulatory structure, imposed in 1959, "remains in law today," according to a 2019 legislative report.

The Legislature's Government, Military and Veteran Affairs Committee is set to review the industry's regulations again before the end of this year as part of its regular five-year reviews of occupational licensing.

Lawmakers established the system in place now 65 years ago through the passage of a narrowed version of LB617, specificallyregulating private detectives and "plainclothes investigators."

The bill initially sought to regulate "armed car services, all manner of security guards, insurance adjusters and others," according to the report.

The initial scope of the legislation proved too broad for some lawmakers and opponents, who prevailed over the objections of some testifiers who attended the bill's public hearing on Feb. 27, 1959, that featured echoes of modernity in the lost fight to regulate the industry.

“Every man who fancies he has a fast draw would like to get into this business," saidThomas Panaing, a lawyer who testified on behalf of a police union."Some men think they can be private detectives without any training for it at all."