June 12, 2012 is a date that is hard to forget for most Alliance residents.
The day began like any other, but just before 9:00am Andres Gonzalez walked into Thiele Pharmacy and Gifts. Police were soon called to the store in response to reports of a robbery. Upon their arrival Gonzalez shot and wounded Alliance Police Department officer Kirk Felker. At 10:30am, Gonzalez again traded gunfire with officers, wounding Nebraska state trooper Tim Flick and APD officer Matt Shannon.
At approxmately 4:30pm, after hours of being held hostage by Gonzalez, Thiele Pharmacy owner Charles Lierk, then 62, made his escape from the pharmacy. Lierk was shot in the back and arm as he ran to safety. Gonzalez died later that day following a gun battle inside the pharmacy with Nebraska State Patrol SWAT team members. On that same day officers discovered the body of Gonzalez' father, 62-year-old Larry Gonzalez, in the family's home.
Then KCOW Radio News Director Kevin Horn spent the morning of the 12th downtown, phoning in live reports for broadcast on KCOW. Also downtown behind locked doors were local business owners stunned at the scene unfolding. Kelly Crawford of Just Shoot Me Photographics captured the sights of the day in the photographs used in this article.
In the ten years since June 12, 2012 the face of downtown Alliance has changed in some big ways. Workforce Development, with offices adjacent to Thieles, eventually re-opened their doors. Years later, Workforce Development would relocate to the lower level of the Alliance Learning Center, and eventually merge with Workforce Development's Scottsbluff operation.
Following the events of June 12, 2012, the Lierks briefly relocated their pharmacy business to a storefront near Box Butte General Hospital. Later that year, the Lierks executed their plans to sell the pharmacy business to Safeway--plans that were in the early stages before the standoff. The downtown location reopened as "Thiele Gifts and More". In 2016, the Lierks announced their retirement and with it, the closure of their business. It brought to an end over a century of a Thiele storefront in downtown Alliance.
The events of April 12, 2012 are unforgettable to any Alliance resident who was here when it happened. Perhaps that's because an incident like this is so exceedingly rare in small towns like Alliance, Nebraska. The day was won by the bravery and skill of both Alliance Police Department officers and those from the Nebraska State Patrol. They went forward into an incredibly dangerous situation and preserved the peace of our town and its people.
Photographs by Kelly Crawford.
Original reporting from Panhandle Post and KCOWRadio.com; additional reporting from wire source.