Suspect Arrested for Threatening People With Handgun, at East Beatrice Apartment

BEATRICE – Beatrice Police Sunday night arrested a man for threatening two people with a handgun.

Police were called to an apartment at eighteen-hundred Scott Street, at around 9:20 p.m. Lieutenant Jay Murphy says authorities learned a man had pointed a handgun at two people, threatening to shoot them. He says police learned the suspect, identified as 41-year-old Frank Ortega, of Beatrice, had arrived at the scene with another male and two children…ages one and three.

He says Ortega brandished a handgun and was carrying a bottle of liquor, forcing his way into a woman’s apartment. Murphy says he began shouting at her, allegedly shoving her against a kitchen counter. He was confronted by another male in the residence and they began arguing.

While the two men argued, the female left the apartment and tried to summon police. Ortega allegedly then grabbed the handgun from a table, and walked outside and pointed the gun at the female, threatening to shoot her if she called police. Murphy said the other man then tried to divert the suspect's attention, and Ortega then allegedly pointed the gun at the man, threatening his life.

When police arrived, the suspect had placed the weapon in his front waistband. He was arrested by police on suspicion of two counts of terroristic threats, use of a weapon to commit a felony, domestic assault, two counts of child abuse and carrying a concealed weapon.

Police later learned from the female that on a prior occasion in late June, the suspect had gotten into an argument and allegedly restrained her and head-butted her. Murphy said the woman had bruises consistent with that account.
Ortega is also being held for that incident, on charges of false imprisonment and third-degree domestic assault.