Jacobi Terry wandered around the Tobacco & Vape store near 32nd and L Streets last October, picked up a few items, asked a few questions.
He chatted up the clerk, Bahy Altairi, and was “overtly friendly,” according to a judge’s account of what store surveillance video showed. He reached over the counter and shook Altairi’s hand.
An hour later, he rushed into the store and shot Altairi, point blank, killing him, the judge said.
A couple of hours after that, Terry is accused of firing several shots at another young man in northwest Omaha — instead hitting a bystander and severely injuring him.
After Douglas County District Judge Leigh Ann Retelsdorf reviewed the surveillance videotape and police reports, she decided against transferring Terry’s case to juvenile court. One big reason the judge cited: Terry, who turned 18 on Tuesday, would have just a year to receive rehabilitation. Under state law, juvenile court’s jurisdiction ends once the juvenile turns 19.
People are also reading…
- Nebraska volleyball coach John Cook gives update on Harper Murray following DUI citation
- Jim Polzin: Only way to make sense of Chucky Hepburn's transfer decision is consider dollars, cents
- Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola scrimmaged like he was at 'recess' — and Marcus Satterfield loved it
- Here are the Omaha metro area restaurants that have recently closed
- Husker notes: Matt Rhule's standout Nebraska RB, most improved player and top two corners
- Shatel: UNO sports aren't going away yet, but consolidation of Nebraska schools may be on horizon
- Large hail, damaging winds possible for Nebraska
- Aksarben ball gown found at estate sale finds home at Omaha's Durham Museum
- Snowy, cold weekend for Nebraska
- Omaha nonprofit planning $41.6 million athletic facility at Nathan Hale Middle School
- Shatel: Union Omaha's $60 million downtown stadium clears major hurdle; Matt Rhule on helmet radios
- McKewon: Fixing Nebraska's 3rd down defense, Matt Rhule on NIL, quarterbacks in spring game
- Nebraska recruiting: The ‘buzz’ around Broderick Shull, new offer in Colorado and Arizona DB’s top 3
- 'Hot mess': Omaha pedestrians say Leavenworth/Saddle Creek construction leaves them stranded
- North Platte grad, Montana transfer Vince Genatone commits to Nebraska football
Terry’s attorney, Douglas County Public Defender Tom Riley, has appealed the judge’s refusal to transfer the case. That appeal is pending before the Nebraska Supreme Court.
Terry’s case has proved to be a study in contrasts. Before Oct. 2, Terry had no record of violence or any other crime. And despite the actions of that night, a defense psychologist, Colleen Conoley, testified that she believed that he could be rehabilitated without incarceration.
Though he had no record, the teen had a distressing school history. During middle school in 2015 and 2016, he had 20 incidents of disruptive behavior, receiving several one-day suspensions. On Sept. 22, 2016, he was expelled for possessing a knife at school and sent to the Omaha Public Schools’ alternative school, Parrish School. He remained there until Christmas break, when he got kicked out for “making threats and intimidation.”
The next year, Terry was at Morton Magnet Middle School. He was cited four times for refusing to do work and being disruptive. On Feb. 16, 2017, he lost computer privileges when he was caught using the computer to Google the term “hollow point bullets.” High school wasn’t much better — a month before his arrest, he was suspended for pushing, shoving and threatening another student.
He attended just 50% of the 2019 fall semester before his October arrest.
But authorities say he saved his most disturbing behavior for the night of the crimes.
According to two friends also charged in the crimes — Marshaun Box and Tretavious Knox — Terry introduced the idea that the three should go searching for guns.
The three had wanted to do a “lick” (robbery) for a “glizzie” (Glock handgun). The accomplices said Terry was part of a gang, though they also told police that these crimes weren’t necessarily gang-related.
“The evidence clearly suggests that this defendant was the individual responsible for planning the robbery,” Retelsdorf wrote.
In fact, the visit to Altairi’s tobacco shop an hour before the shooting was designed to “case” the store, or “check the place out,” the judge wrote.
After chatting with Altairi and shaking his hand, Terry and Knox left the tobacco store.
An hour or so later, at 7:30 p.m., surveillance video shows a male the judge identifies as Terry enter the store with a rifle pointed directly at Altairi. Altairi immediately recoils, stepping back from the counter.
Terry pulls down the cabinet that is holding the cash register and, on a lower shelf, a handgun. His hands up and empty, Altairi seemingly reflexively steps toward the cabinet, as if to catch it before it falls. He pulls his hands back, and the gunman shoots him in the chest.
The gunman reaches into the cabinet, grabs the handgun and runs out of the store.
“Defendant did state that he believed Altairi was going to pull a gun so he shot Altairi,” Retelsdorf wrote. “Defendant returned to the vehicle and left the scene with Box and Knox.”
Terry reportedly later told his friends that Altairi “didn’t deserve that.”
Even so, prosecutors say, Terry’s behavior was just as chilling afterward. An hour or two later, the three went to a young man’s home on the pretense that they were going to buy a gun or sneakers from him.
Box had arranged the purchase — and the three parked some distance from the young man’s residence near 75th Street and Hartman Avenue. Upon arrival, Box asked the young man to come to his car. The young man refused.
Eventually, Box and Terry left their vehicle and walked toward the house. Box went to the garage. Terry stood behind a vehicle in the driveway and asked the young man to come to him. The young man refused.
Terry “pulled a firearm and began shooting toward the garage and the house,” according to the judge’s account. He missed the young man but hit a 27-year-old man who had been inside the house.
Jared Sedlacek suffered partial paralysis in a leg.
The defense psychologist, Conoley, diagnosed Terry with anxiety and social pragmatic communication disorder — which is marked by difficulty expressing yourself or engaging in routine conversation. That disorder is similar to behaviors found in autistic children. She said he reported that he used marijuana often.
Despite the allegations against Terry, Conoley said he is a “low … risk for future dangerousness.” If convicted of first-degree murder, Terry would face 40 years to life in prison.
“Conoley testified that she does not believe the defendant is a high risk to the community,” Retelsdorf wrote. “She thinks ‘the highest risk are these other kids that we know nothing about who are going to shoot other people.’ ”
Riley noted scientific studies that have proven differences between an adolescent and an adult brain, namely that people act more impulsively from their teenage years through their mid-20s.
“One of Terry’s accomplices told police that once Terry returned to the car, he stated that he had to shoot the deceased because he believed the clerk was going for a gun,” Riley wrote. “If taken as true, this demonstrates adolescent impulsivity and a lack of premeditated intent to harm another … Even a juvenile charged with murder, such as Terry, is not excluded from involvement in the juvenile court system.”
But the judge questioned whether Terry was truly acting impulsively. She noted that Altairi was unarmed. And, the judge said, Terry didn’t give any indication that he felt threatened or was acting on impulse before opening fire in the second shooting.
“It is concerning that Defendant, after shooting a victim at close range, went out that same night and sprayed bullets in(to) a garage,” the judge wrote.
cooper@owh.com, 402-444-1275
Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter
Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email.
Todd Cooper
Reporter - Courts
Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.