BEATRICE – Beatrice Police are probing a possible connection between the suspect in a fatal shooting and the victim.
25-year-old Brandon Long was arrested by police early Thursday morning in the overnight shooting death of Alex Rader, outside Long’s residence along North 12th Street.

"Our investigation at this point, indicates that the female resident inside the house was a close acquaintance of the male that was found outside the residence. There might have been some friction between the two as a result of that, including an earlier disturbance a couple of months ago involving those two males. We do believe that he knew that person. The question is did he know that person was the individual that he shot," Police Chief Bruce Lang said.

Authorities said Long was inside the residence and reported hearing noises outside the home at around midnight, went outside and discovered a man standing next to the house. Police said he fired one shot, hitting the man later identified as Alex Rader. Rader was struck in the back by a shot in the shoulder blade, exiting his side. Rader died shortly afterward.

Police recovered a nine-millimeter handgun believed to be the weapon used. Police are investigating whether the two had any verbal contact prior to the shooting.

"That's one of the things we're working on, towards exactly what occurred at the point where they....where he contacted that guy outside. We're not really sure exactly what transpired there. We have some conflicting reports so we're working through that."

Long allegedly was standing on a small porch elevated about three feet off the ground, near the corner of the house, allegedly reaching around the corner before the shot was fired.

"Nobody witnessed it, but we did have some neighbors that did hear some things, so we gathered that information, as well."

Long was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder, use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony and discharging a weapon inside the city limits.
Police Chief Lang says Rader was standing next to the north side of the house, and police do not believe he was trying to enter the home.

Long works for the Nebraska Department of Corrections, and Lang says police had not had any significant encounters with him, before.
Appearance bond was set Thursday for Long, at one-million dollars. His next hearing is set for January 19th, in Gage County Court. He had not been formally charged, as of Thursday.