A man jumped over the counter at a Westroads Mall restaurant, grabbed a knife and demanded food shortly before 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, setting off a scramble that ended with two men under arrest before they could board a bus. The attempted robbery unfolded at the Amsterdam restaurant inside the mall's Flagship Commons food court, leaving the suspects without any food and facing criminal charges instead.
Jeremy Ford, 33, and Lamar Johnson, 33, were both arrested in connection with the incident, according to WOWT. Police said both suspects left the area without any food and were apprehended as they attempted to board a bus.
Ford was booked on charges of attempted robbery and use of a weapon to commit a felony, the more serious outcome of the two arrests. Johnson was booked on a single charge of attempted robbery.
Investigation Still Open, Police Say
The Omaha Police Department says its investigation into the attempted robbery is ongoing. No additional details on the suspects' arrest location, court dates, or further case developments have been released at this time.
The attempted robbery adds to a steady stream of incidents that keep Omaha's busiest retail corridors under scrutiny, even as the city's overall violent crime numbers have reportedly trended downward in recent years. The Omaha Police Department has pointed to community partnerships and technology as factors in that shift, though those broader citywide figures are separate from Wednesday's incident at Westroads Mall.
For now, shoppers and food court staff at Westroads are left with more questions than answers about what exactly triggered the confrontation at the Amsterdam restaurant counter. Police have not released further information on the men's relationship to one another or what led them to the mall that evening.
