Police in Council Bluffs are investigating a New Year’s Day carjacking – the second such incident in three days. Officials say at around 3:17-a.m., Monday, Police were dispatched to the 3200 block of Avenue J for a reported carjacking. Upon arrival, they made contact with the victim – Derek Howe. Howe told Police he had been sleeping in his car when two males approached and shot him once before leaving in his vehicle, a 2013 Ford Fusion with Nebraska license plates EVJ 830. The man was transported to a local hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

Saturday morning, a Nebraska man suffered a non-life threatening gunshot wound to the thigh during a car jacking incident in the parking lot of a Council Bluffs casino. Council Bluffs Police say officers were called to the Horseshoe Casino at around 4:43-a.m., for a reporting of a male party laying in the parking lot who had been shot. It was discovered the 53-year old male from Elk Horn, NE., was the victim of a robbery / car-jacking in the parking lot. The unidentified man was shot by a suspect, as the victim attempted to flee on foot from the vehicle. The suspect fled from the scene with the victim’s vehicle, a gray 2006 Ford F-150 Super-Crew.

The victim in Saturday’s incident was transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. His vehicle was recovered by the Omaha Police Department in the area of the 2000 block of S. 45th St. Authorities say it had been burned.