COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOL. 94 NO. 16
Man arrested in shooting of UNL officer
Witnesses describe
crime scene, arrest
By Jeffrey Robb __
Senior Editor
Ryan Broussard was driving behind a Uni
versity Police Chevy Blazer Monday night
when he saw a man fire a semi-automatic
weapon at the Vehicle.
“Hcopencdhisdoor, got outand just started
shooting,” said Broussard, a UNL freshman,
who had been traveling south on 16th Street
behind the police vehicle.
Broussard was one of many witnesses who
watched about 6:30 p.m. as a man fired nine
shots at the Blazer.
Un iversi ty Pol ice officer Robert Sofl in. who
was driving the Blazer, was taken later to
Lincoln General Hospital with wounds to his
hand and shoulder.
After the shots were fired, Broussard said,
the officer walked to the back of the Blazer.
Streaks of blood stained the rear panelling
where Soflin leaned against it. Broussard said
the police cruiser had been pursuing a faded
black pickup truck.
Toshiyuki Taki was walking down 16th
Street toward R Street when he saw the man
step from the truck and start firing.
After the shots were fired, Taki saw the
officer grab his hand. About the same time,
Taki.anexchangc student studying communi
cation, said the shooter got back in his truck
and drove away.
Police chased the suspect down 16th Street
and thencaston South street. The man then led
police south on 27th street.
Nancy Reckcwey was stopped in the left
turn lane on 27th Street, waiting to turn on
Nebraska Highway 2 when she first heard
sirens. She looked in her rear-view mirror and
saw a faded black Chevy pickup truck being
chased by police cars.
“When I turned around, they were out of
their cars and their guns were pointed, and I
didn’t know where,’’ Reckcwey said.
She screamed at her son. Jon Klein, to get
down on the floor of her Chevrolet Suburban.
She put down her head but then lowered the
• passenger window to talk to a man in the next
car.
“I said, ‘What is the deal?’ and he said,
‘There is a gunman in the car behind you.”'
About 200 students drawn by guns shots
and police sirens lined the crime scene at 16lh
and R streets to sec what had happened.
Paul Vicary and Lcyla Parra-Vicary, both
UNL graduate students, stayed at the scene
after they heard the rapid-fire gunshots They
had been heading west on R street when they
were stopped by a red light.
“I thought it sounded strange.” he said.
“I’ve never seen or heard gunshots here in
Lincoln. I saw smoke and I thought that had to
be it.”
Sealor Kditori Mill Woody and Jeff Acteoy con
tributed to thh report.
Jay Calderon/DN
Robert Soflin, a University Police officer, receives medical treatment from members of the Lincoln Fire
Department and Lincoln paramedics. Soflin, who later was taken to Lincoln General Hospital, was shot in the
hand Monday evening near 16th and R streets.
Police chase
former student
By Matt Woody
and Jeff Zeleny
Senior Editors
A 31-year-old former UNL student was
arrested Monday night for attempted murder
after he allegedly fired nine shots at a Univer
sity Police officer, authorities said.
Gerald Lee Schlondorf was taken into cus
tody after a 20-minulc standoff with police m
south Lincoln. Schlondorf was arrested after
he led police on a low-speed chase through
rush-hour traffic from near State Fair Park to
27th Street and Nebraska Highway 2. where he
was apprehended.
University Pol ice officer Robert Soil in joined
the pursuit when it reached the University of
Ncbraska-Lincoln City Campus. Soflin, who
was wearing a bullet-proof vest, was shot twice
in his police Blazer at 16th and R streets.
Sofl in, a si x-year U ni versity Pol ice veteran,
is the first UNL police officer ever to be shot,
Sgt. Bill Manning said. Soflin underwent
surgery at Lincoln General Hospital Monday
evening. He was listed in fair condition early
today.
Lincoln and University Police gave the
following account of the incident:
About 6:15 p.m., Schlondorf, of 1331 N.
Ninth St., drove past Lincoln Police officers,
who were standing beside their cruiser near
14th Street and Military Road. As Schlondorf
passed the officers in his faded black Chevrolet
Custom Deluxe pickup truck, he brandished a
gun and shouted threats at the officers.
The policcofficers pursued Schlondorf south
on 14th Street, and then on 16th Street through
the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln campus.
At 16th and R streets, Schlondorf stopped
in traffic. While stopped, he gotoutof his truck
and shot nine rounds at Soflin. Soflin was
struck in the hand and received minor injuries
to his neck and shoulder.
Schlondorf then got back in his vehicle and
left the scene, continuing south along 16th
Street. Lincoln police continued the pursuit.
Schlondorf turned east on South Street.
Between 20th and 21 st streets he fired shots at
a Lincoln Police cruiser. At least two rounds
hit the car.
The suspect then turned south on 27th
Street. Heavy traffic forced him to stop at the
intersection of 27th Street and Nebraska High
way 2. After a 20-minute stand-off at the
intersection,during which Schlondorfhcld his
.45<alibcr Thompson sub-machine gun repli
ca in his truck, police apprehended him with
out incident.
Schlondorf was booked in LancastcrCoun
ty Jail late Monday evening and will be ar
See SHOOTING on 3
Search for former UNL student concludes in Seattle
By Matthew Waite__ _
Senior Reporter
The week-long search for former UNL law
student Kendra Marshall is finished.
Marshall was found near Seattle Monday about
6 p.m. central time, said Dennis Leonard, a
criminal investigator in the Nebraska State Patrol
on Monday.
“She was alone, she was safe, and she was
sound.” Leonard said. “There was no abduction.
There was no foul play. There was no criminal
activity.”
Marshall was reported missing last Monday by
her brother, Mitch, when she did not show up for
work at Barnes & Noble bookstore in Lincoln.
Officials in the state patrol originally suspect
‘V
cd foul play in Marshall's disappearance. The
patrol described the incident as suspicious and out
of character for Marshall.
Marshall was idcntmcd
from automated teller machine
videotape taken in Chadron
Thursday. The tape was the
only confirmed sighting the
state patrol had m Nebraska.
Another sighting of
Marshall was reported in
Kearney last Monday, but was
i.. ■ ..-1 nui uinnrmcu. laxjiuuu saiu
Marshall Sunday the patrol was confi
dent. but not sure, about the
Kearney sighting.
Marshall was found by an FBI agent in Seattle
and has since contacted her family, he said.
“She was there because she wanted to be
there,” Leonard said from Holdregc. “Once it was
determined that there was no criminal case, the
case was closed.
“Any reasons she had for being there were
personal and private.”
Leonard and friends of Marshall said they
were all elated by the outcome of the investigation.
Andrew Sigerson, a friend of Marshall who
coordinated media relations for the Marshall
family, said the news that they received Monday
night was wonderful.
Her reappearance in Seattle, however, was a
mystery to him, he said.
“I don’t have any idea why she was out there,”
Sigerson said. “Sometimes people just need to get
away.”
It may seem like many hours were wasted by
the media and the state patrol, Sigerson said, but
the outcome of the investigation was worth the
time.
Leonard agreed the time spent searching for
the woman wasn’t a waste.
“When we consider what some of the other
alternatives and conclusions arc to these things, I
couldn’t be happier,” he said. “I’m not upset at all
about the lime I spent on it."
Michelle Snurr and Timarrec Brown,
Marshall’s roommates, refused to comment Mem
day night, saying only that they were happy she
was safe.
