A Chadron man is in the Dawes County jail on $100,000 bail for allegedly beating a man severely enough to inflict life-threatening injuries, then stealing his vehicle early Thursday morning.
27-year old Shawnee Russell is charged with 4 felonies: 1st-degree assault, robbery, felony use of a deadly weapon and possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited person. The name of the victim has not been released.
Chadron Police Sgt Patrick Young says officers responding to an apartment after a 911 call about 2:20 in the morning found the beating victim. They kept him conscious until the Chadron rescue unit took him to Chadron Community Hospital. He was later flown to Regional West Medical Center in Scottsbluff.
Officers interviewed witnesses who identified Russell as the man’s attacker and said that he’d taken the man’s vehicle. That set off a 6-hour search for Russell and the vehicle, which was found abandoned a short time later in Wilson Park.
Sgt Young says it was towed to the police station and processed for evidence after officers obtained search warrants for it and the apartment where the assault occurred. Items related to the assault were seized, including photographs and DNA evidence.
About that same time, officers also learned that two guns had been taken from the injured man during the struggle. Both were found later at an abandoned residence and taken into custody.
Young says Chadron officers and Nebraska State troopers finally located Russell at a private residence, and he was arrested without incident. His clothing and “photographic evidence” were seized under a third search warrant.