Court documents provide more information on fatal shooting near Hartington, NE

HARTINGTON, Neb. (KTIV) - Court documents are providing further details on what happened during a shooting in Cedar County, Nebraska.

The shooting happened on March 1 just north of Hartington and resulted in the death of 31-year-old Israel Matos-Colon of Fowlerville, Michigan. Authorities say the alleged shooter, 20-year-old David Phillips Jr. of Louisiana, has been charged with second-degree murder, using a deadly weapon to commit a felony and possession of a stolen firearm.

Court documents state the shooting was reported at about 9:10 a.m. at a tower work site. By 9:20 a.m. a Cedar County deputy had reportedly taken Phillips into custody as a potential suspect. They had also recovered a 9mm pistol that was allegedly on Phillips’s person. The gun was also reported as stolen out of Louisiana.

Document state at about 9:29 a.m. Matos-Colon still had a pulse, but by 9:37 a.m. authorities at the scene were reporting that they could no longer feel a pulse. Matos-Colon was taken to a Yankton, South Dakota hospital where he was pronounced dead at 10:19 a.m.

The Nebraska State Patrol was called in to help investigate the shooting. One witness told authorities they saw Phillips fire at Matos-Colon multiple times from a few feet away. The witness also claimed Phillips remained near the scene, stating Matos-Colon had “talked about his mom” before the shooting.

Another witness claimed he saw Phillips shoot at Matos-Colon multiple times. Then afterward, he saw Phillips apologizing to Matos-Colon while he was receiving life-saving measures.

A third witness told investigators that Phillips had asked those nearby, “You guys gonna give me a ride out of here or call the cops?”

After searching the scene, investigators found six spent 9mm casings and one live 9mm cartridge. The exact amount of times Matos-Colon was hit was not in the court documents.

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