By Kevin Cole and Jason Kuiper
Omaha World-Herald
Copyright 2007 The Omaha World-Herald Company
ASHLAND, Neb. — A man who allegedly fired on an Ashland volunteer firefighter Wednesday was shot by law enforcement officers after a twohour standoff.
Stanley N. Bjorkman, 58, had had trouble with his neighbors at Horseshoe Lake near Mahoney State Park previously -- even drawing a gun on one of them in the past.
“He is a goofball. Everyone has problems with him,” said Bobbie Peters, who lives about 100 yards across the lake from Bjorkman. She said he is single and lives by himself. “He’s a weird guy, a recluse.”
She said Bjorkman drew a gun a month ago on a woman who had recently moved in next door to him. Bjorkman told that neighbor he had hurt his ankle and asked her to get his mail. When she showed up the next day to give him his mail, he met her at the door with a gun.
Wednesday’s incident began about 5:15 p.m. when four firefighters came to Bjorkman’s residence, 1091 Smitty Lane, to investigate a report of an illegal burn. Winds were gusting at more than 50 mph at the time.
When the four got out to speak with Bjorkman, Bjorkman allegedly fired on them, striking one of them.
Roger Alley was taken to Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha with an injury to one arm, said a Nebraska State Patrol spokeswoman. He was released Wednesday night.
After Alley was shot, a standoff with dozens of officers from the State Patrol and the Cass and Saunders County Sheriff’s Offices ensued.
Peters said that about 7:30 p.m. she saw Bjorkman come to the door of his house with a gun drawn. Officers then opened fire on the man.
Peters said that after Bjorkman was shot, officers cuffed him and dragged him to the side of his yard. Medics then cut his clothes off him and put him in the ambulance.
He was taken to Creighton. The State Patrol spokeswoman said she did not know the extent of Bjorkman’s injuries Wednesday night. The hospital also declined to release his condition.
No one else was injured during the incident.
Officers, who had closed off access to the lake during the standoff, had not let residents back into the area by 10 p.m.
Highway 66, which runs past the lake, was lined with the parked cars of news media and with neighbors who couldn’t get to their homes. Many were in contact with families by cell phone.
By 9 p.m. — more than an hour after the ambulance taking Bjorkman to the hospital had left — neighbors were growing restless at being kept from their homes.
Dan McElroy, who has lived in area for about 10 years, said there are about 80 homes at the lake, only about 20 of which are occupied year-round. It’s very quiet, he said, which is what he loves about living there.
He said he did not know Bjorkman personally but had heard that he had upset neighbors before.