White bar owner charged with killing Black protester in Omaha kills himself
Jake Gardner, the white bar owner who was charged last week in the shooting death of a 22-year-old Black man during George Floyd protests in May, has killed himself.
The 38-year-old shot himself after police in Hillsboro, Oregon, responded to a call about a suicidal person, authorities speaking anonymously told the Omaha World Herald.
“At about 12:20 p.m., Hillsboro Police Department officers responded to the 300 block of Southeast Ninth Avenue after a body was found outside a medical clinic,” Hillsboro police said in a statement obtained by KETV-TV. “They discovered 38-year-old Jacob Gardner of Omaha, Nebraska, dead.”
Gardner had owned the Hive Bar in Omaha, and he shot James Scurlock after a scuffle during protests in May, five days after the death of George Floyd in police custody. Gardner had been charged last week with attempted first-degree assault, weapon use, making terroristic threats and manslaughter but had yet to turn himself in.
Gardner had fled Omaha before being charged due to death threats he received, the Omaha World Herald reported.
He was scheduled to return to Omaha Sunday evening, his attorney Stu Dornan told KETV.
“The family of Jake Gardner has asked Tom Monaghan and myself to share the news of his death today, at his own hand,” Dornan told KETV, referring to Gardner’s other lawyer.
