‘We just ask God for the strength’: Crete family tries to recover after attack from neighbor

By Jessica Perez

Click here for updates on this story

    CRETE, Nebraska (KETV) — Investigators said 74-year-old Billy Booth opened fire from inside his house.

One of his victims said she knew he was a bad man, but never expected he’d open fire. She’s grateful everyone survived.

Maria Garcia Sanchez said about 15 people were at her home Friday.

They were all family members. The kids were outside playing, and the adults were chatting.

Just as they were going to head inside, she noticed a metal object bounce off her 3-year-old grandson’s bike helmet.

“I thought the kids grabbed some metal object at first and hit his head, but I saw it from the side, and by the time I realized what it was, he was already attacking again,” Garcia Sanchez said in Spanish.

Adrian Bautista Garcia was shot in the ear.

Garcia Sanchez feels the helmet likely saved his life.

She was shot in the back while attempting to shield Adrian and run inside.

“I felt like I was going to fall right there, it felt like he got me bad,” Garcia Sanchez said. “I knew it wasn’t dangerous where he hit me but the pain came on strong. I was going to fall and drop the boy, but I found the strength to keep carrying him and I quickly ran in the house, by the garage door, he shot me again and it hit me in the head and that’s when I felt like you have no idea.”

She said she didn’t care about her life, just that Adrian was safe.

Her husband, Alberto Bautista Paiz, grabbed the other kids. He didn’t realize he’d been shot until later.

Their son-in-law, two nieces and daughter were also shot.

Garcia Sanchez said they’re all recovering, but still afraid.

“We just ask God for the strength and that nothing worse happens, we are very afraid right now,” she said.

Garcia Sanchez said about a month ago, her family had a series of scary encounters with Booth.

Once, while her daughter was watching Adrian ride his toy train in the street, Booth told them to go back to their country and speak English. He also accused them of being on his property.

“She didn’t do anything wrong, wasn’t hurting anyone, and she wasn’t on his property,” Garcia Maria said. “The next day, he came back and said to my son, come here, come here, and my son said, ‘Why?’ and the man kept honking and going back and forth and honking in front of our house so the kids would come outside.”

On another occasion, Garcia Maria said Booth told her son to hit him, but her son refused.

Neighbors say Booth didn’t like people coming onto his property.

Dave Hansen doesn’t believe this crime was racially motivated.

“He hated the world, and he was very protective of his property,” Hansen said.

Garcia Sanchez said only Booth knows why he did it, but to her, it was obvious he didn’t like Hispanic people.

“Maybe he hates us. That’s what I felt in my heart,” she said. “I felt this man didn’t like us because we are Hispanic.”

As they recover, she hopes the fear they still feel goes away with time.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.