Police Brutality / Individual record
Marcus Wheeler
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records Marcus Wheeler in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2015-05-20 in Omaha, NE. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-179
- Incident date
- May 20, 2015
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Omaha, NE
- Agency
- Omaha Police Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 26
What happened
Marcus D. Wheeler, 26, and Omaha Police Detective Kerrie Orozco were both killed in a May 20, 2015, shootout when officers attempted to arrest Wheeler on a felony warrant. According to Omaha police and later federal court-related reporting, Wheeler fired at officers during the encounter near North 30th Street and Martin Avenue. Orozco, a seven-year police veteran and new mother, was struck by a bullet fired from Wheeler's gun. Another officer returned fire, killing Wheeler; both died after being transported to a hospital. A later federal prosecution concerned the illegal purchase of the firearm Wheeler used, resulting in a conviction of the purchaser. Wheeler's inclusion in police-shooting data must be read with the documented fatal shooting of Orozco and the armed confrontation, rather than presented as an unprovoked police shooting.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 489
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- gun
- Flee status (source)
- not
- Agency IDs (source)
- 158
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Fatal Force v2 — fatal on-duty police shootings, 2015–2024The Washington Post · Dataset