Omaha Barbers Survive Close Shave, Clip Armed Robber

Two South Omaha (NB) brothers who own a barbershop established a response plan after they heard about a rash of armed robberies in the neighborhood they serve.

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When criminal Luis Ortiz stormed into FadeKings with a shotgun to rob the place the brothers ran their plan, to with almost disastrous results.

 Omaha police say a man intent on robbing a South Omaha barbershop Friday morning ended up shot during a gun fight with an employee.

Police initially received a report of shots fired at Fadekings Barbershop at 2907 Q St. shortly around 9:45 a.m.

Officers found Lucas M. Ortiz, 23, on the sidewalk outside suffering from gunshot wounds. He was taken into custody and transported to Nebraska Medicine.

Walk into the barbershop Saturday, and you’d never guess it was a crime scene the day before.

Jesse Galvan and his brother, David, had a line of people waiting to get their hair cut Saturday afternoon- business as usual.

The pair survived a dangerous robbery attempt Friday morning. Bullet holes riddle their shop’s front door, back wall and mirror, which has since been taken down and replaced.

“It was so fast, so, so fast,” David said.

The Galvans said only seconds passed from the moment a man came into their shop and the bullets started flying.

David told KETV NewsWatch 7 that him and his brother were each working with a client when the suspect, armed with a shotgun, walked in, dropped a backpack on the ground and told them to empty their pockets.

“When he cocked the thing in my face to me and my customer, that’s when I know he wasn’t playing, I kind of looked at my brother and I threw my wallet on the floor, and then my brother knew what to do next,” David said.

That’s because they have a plan, David explained.

“Me and my brother already had a game plan for robberies, because they’ve been robbing all this street right here,” David said.

Jesse, a registered gun owner, says he keeps his weapon strapped to his body when he’s inside his barbershop.

“So I told him put the gun down, gun down, and I was pointing my gun at him, and he just shot at me,” Jesse said.

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Jesse’s single mistake in the incident was that he is a good person, and he didn’t want to open fire on Ortiz when he had the clear advantage as Ortiz was bent over retrieving the wallet purposefully dropped on the floor by Jesse’s brother, David.

Most decent, well-adjusted people don’t relish the thought of essentially executing a fellow human being from a position of advantage. They often instead want to be give bad guys a chance to surrender.  Like most of you, I have that tendency as well, and I’ve had to try to train my way out of that mindset.

lucas ortiz

The only reason this story has a “happy ending” is that like most criminals, Lucas Ortiz is a horrible shot. When Jesse Galvan tried to be nice and give Ortiz a chance to surrender, Ortiz responded by attempting to murder Jesse with a shotgun slug.

Folks, if you are going to talk, talk. If you are going to shoot, shoot.

Talking when you should be shooting can get you killed if the bad guy is even halfway competent. Gunfighting isn’t fun, and it isn’t supposed to be fair. Use your advantage, win decisively, and survive.

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