Sarpy County Jail Roberto Carlos Silva
Roberto Carlos Silva is accused of a shooting at a Sonic restaurant in Bellevue, Nebraska that left two dead and two wounded and involved an exploded U-Haul. Authorities released a mugshot that showed Silva, 23, smiling for the camera.
In a news release, Bellevue Police said they were dispatched to the Sonic Drive-In on November 21 at 9:30 p.m. for a “possible bomb inside of a moving truck parked in the parking lot.”
The call was then updated to a shooting. Numerous officers responded, and they took the suspect into custody a short time later. Authorities do not believe there are any other suspects. Silva, who lives with his parents in Omaha, has been held on suspicion of first-degree murder and first-degree arson. He is being held without bond.
Officers discovered four people with gunshot wounds. Two victims were transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and two more were deceased at the scene. Police have identified the victims who were killed as Nathan Pastrana, 22, and Ryan Helbert, 28. The victims who survived have been named as Zoey Reece Atalig Lujan, 18, and Kenneth Garner, 25. All four victims worked at Sonic, according to police.
“A large police presence for an active investigation near 15th and Cornhusker. AVOID THE AREA. MORE UPDATES TO FOLLOW,” was all Bellevue police said in a tweet when the incident first broke out.
WOWT shared live video from the scene. “There are multiple authorities, police, different jurisdictions reporting here,” the station’s journalist, Alex McLoon, reported. Omaha police are helping “respond to an active shooter situation,” he said. Officials were knocking through a drive-thru window at one point in that video. “Authorities have been going up to this drive-thru window, periodically knocking on the door,” he said. Witnesses noticed a hand through the window.
Here’s what you need to know:
Silva Was Previously Accused of Ordering Food at the Sonic Using Someone Else’s App
According to Omaha.com, Silva was previously arrested after Sonic workers “reported that someone had charged $57 to another person’s Sonic app” on November. 18.
According to the newspaper, authorities said Silva was using the other person’s identity via the app when a store employee told them someone had used the name “Mike” to use another man’s app.
.@BellevuePolice Release additional details in the Sonic shooting that has left two dead and two injured. 23-year-old Roberto Carlos Silva Jr was booked into Sarpy County Jail this morning. No further information at this time. Investigation ongoing.
Police went to the restaurant and found Silva in a car near the restaurant. Silva was arrested on suspicion of identity theft and was released from jail on November 19, two days before the shooting, after posting 10 percent of his $1,500 bail. Three firearms had been seized from Silva by police after his first arrest, the news site reported.
Omaha.com reported, “When a reporter went Sunday to a residence in southwest Omaha where Silva lived with his parents, someone inside declined to open the door. A man who arrived at the home as the reporter was leaving acknowledged that it was the Silva family’s home, but he declined to comment.”
Silva does not appear to have a prior criminal record in Nebraska before the incidents at the Sonic.
Video Captured the Explosion
A witness just sent me this video.
It captures a car fire and explosion in the Sonic Drive Thru.
This is the Sonic in Bellevue just off Cornhusker.
Video emerged capturing the explosion. Emily Tencer, a journalist with KETV, wrote on Twitter with the above video, “A witness just sent me this video. It captures a car fire and explosion in the Sonic Drive Thru. This is the Sonic in Bellevue just off Cornhusker.”
The videos showed a vehicle on fire at that location, a U-Haul. According to KETV, the “original caller voices concern after seeing U-Haul truck with wires and pipes sticking out of it.” Investigators did not find any explosive devices and it is believed fireworks caused the fire, police said.
KETV reported that at least one person was in critical condition. Bellevue is a community of about 50,000 people.
A man told McLoon he heard multiple “pops” as he walked toward the restaurant. His first thought was gunshots. “It wasn’t real loud,” he said. “It was like pop, pop, pop.” The man went inside and sat down at a table and then he saw a fire outside the window.
The shooting come the two days after a man opened fire in a popular shopping mall in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, injuring eight people. That man remain unidentified and at large. In that instance, police said the shooting was not random and stemmed from an altercation, although they weren’t more specific about the nature of it.
There was a massive law enforcement response to the Bellevue scene. According to Omaha.com, at least 20 law enforcement vehicles responded to the scene.
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