Nebraska State Patrol investigating murder-suicide attempt in Polk County

The Nebraska State Patrol said Tuesday it is investigating an apparent murder-suicide attempt in Polk County.

The State Patrol said in a news release that the Polk County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance about 2 a.m. Tuesday after multiple incidents near Shelby.

Deputies found a man dead from an apparent gunshot wound at a business near County Road T and 127th Road, south of Shelby. At a second scene located on farm ground near County Road S and 129th Road, deputies found another man with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The man was transported to Bryan West Campus in Lincoln with what are considered to be life-threatening injuries.

The deputies were alerted to the shootings by a woman who drove from the second scene to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office to report that she had been assaulted. She was treated at Columbus Community Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

The State Patrol offered no other details and said the investigation remains ongoing.

This is the second attempted murder-suicide in the state in just over a month. On Feb. 28, 40-year-old Jamie Kruger killed shot herself and her three children at a house in rural Kearney County. Kruger died but all three children survived.

Last year, murder-suicides surged to a multiyear high, with 12 incidents leaving 25 people dead.