Man who held fake shooting drill at Nebraska charity charged

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A man hired last spring to carry out what appeared to be an active shooting at an Omaha, Nebraska, charity — complete with actors smeared with fake blood — has been criminally charged. John Channels, of Omaha, was arrested and charged Tuesday with five counts of making terroristic threats and one weapons count. The incident happened May 19 when authorities say the 27-year-old Channels showed up at Omaha Catholic Charities firing blanks from a semiautomatic handgun and staging “victims” who appeared to have been wounded or killed. Police say the charity paid him $2,500 to test its workers’ preparedness for such an attack. The incident caused panic among the charity’s employees because they hadn’t been told it was a drill.