Nuer Abraham Yuek was 19 when he was shot inside a home near North 31st and Seward Streets in Omaha on the night of July 30, 2020. Police were dispatched about 9:06 p.m., found him in the basement with a gunshot wound to the chest, and he was taken to Nebraska Medicine where he was pronounced dead. Born May 6, 2001, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, he had reunited with family in Nebraska years earlier.

Investigators quickly focused on 20-year-old Keat Thon after a 911 call. Thon was arrested and charged with manslaughter, use of a weapon to commit a felony, and possession of a stolen firearm. Detectives say Thon admitted that he and Yuek had been messing around with a firearm, that he pointed it and pulled the trigger believing there were no live rounds, and that he hid the gun in bushes outside the residence at 1520 N. 31st Street. Thon pled no contest to manslaughter and received a sentence of 10 to 12 years in prison; the Nebraska Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence on December 7, 2021.

Are there details about that night or about Yuek’s life in Omaha that anyone can add?