A horrific night began with a traffic stop and turned extremely violent when an officer spotted the license plate of a stolen car in a driveway near North 73rd and Adams Street in Lincoln, Nebraska. Police confronted Zachary Grigsby, a man with a felony history who was sitting in the driver seat, and gunfire ensued.

Grigsby was in the process of being arrested when he became defiant and told police he wasn’t going to jail. Within five minutes, over 20 police cruisers were in the area. Grigsby began to fight with police officers and proceeded to take a gun out of his waistband and shoot. He shot officer Matthew Gilleland. He also put officer Angela Morehouse in a headlock and punched her in the face. Grigsby was shot.

The suspect was killed during the exchange of fire on the night of November 29th. Shortly after the incident ended, five people in a nearby house were taken into custody to be questioned about their suspected relationship with the shooter. None of those who were involved were identified.

One neighbor, Darryl Robinson, said, “I just heard it. When I looked back the whole street was crowded.”

This is a terrifying event, not only for the people of Lincoln, but for the people of Nebraska. It was one thing when we were having shootings in big cities, like Chicago and New York City, and cities known for outbursts of violence, but now, this is a personal issue. Are these shootings getting too close to home? Is this becoming a problem too big for us to handle? And what needs to be done to stop this chaos, not only in Nebraska, but in the United States? These are questions that can be answered if we work together as communities, states, and as a nation.