Story of the Day-Omaha Mall Shooting

Nebraska Mall Shooting Nine Dead

Mall shooting in Omaha, Nebraska

INTERVIEW WITH EYEWITNESS - OMAHA SHOOTING - CNN

'Now I'll Be Famous': Omaha Gunman Kills 8, Himself
Robert A. Hawkins, 19, Left a Note Saying He Would No Longer Be a Trouble to Anyone
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3958863&page=1
Kicked out of his home, fired from his job and dumped by his girlfriend.

People who knew Robert A. Hawkins, the young man police say killed eight people and then himself inside a Omaha, Neb., mall Wednesday, say he was an "introverted troubled young man."

Five people were injured during the afternoon shooting spree inside the Von Maur department store at the Westroads Mall. The sound of gunfire sent people fleeing in all directions while others hid in clothes racks and dressing rooms.

Hawkins was found dead on the third floor of the Von Maur department store after apparently opening fire on shoppers on lower floors. Though the first widely released picture of the gunman shows a mop-topped teen, Wednesday, he wore a military-style haircut and black outfit, witnesses said.


Police Chief Thomas Warren said the shooting appeared to be random. He did not release the victims' identities, but said there were five women and three men. He promised more details in a news conference scheduled for this morning.

Jeff Shaffart, who was shot in the arm by Hawkins, was shopping with his wife for a dress for their 2-year-old daughter. He told "Good Morning America" today that he thought balloons had popped or construction work was going on.

"It didn't dawn on me at the time I'd been shot," Shaffart said, adding that he didn't see the gunman. It wasn't until he saw blood on his fingers that he realized he had been hit. As he ducked for cover among other frightened shoppers, Shaffart said that he got separated from his wife. The sheriff arrived and essentially directed people out of the mall with a shotgun raised, reuniting the man with his wife.


'Lost Pound Puppy'
Hawkins, 19, of Bellevue, Neb., was kicked out by his family about a year ago. He moved in with a friend's family, and Debora Maruca-Kovac and her husband welcomed him into their home and tried to help the teen.

"When he first came in the house, he was introverted, a troubled young man who was like a lost pound puppy that nobody wanted," Maruca-Kovac told The Associated Press.

She also told the Omaha World-Herald that the night before the shooting, Hawkins and her sons showed her an SKS semiautomatic Russian military rifle — the same type used in the shooting.

She said she thought the gun belonged to a member of Hawkins' family. She said she didn't think much of it — the gun looked too old to work.

ABC News affiliate KETV in Omaha reported that police and federal agents executed a search warrant late Wednesday night at the house where Hawkins' biological mother reportedly lives.

Records in Sarpy and Washington counties show Hawkins had a felony drug conviction and several misdemeanor cases filed against him, including an arrest 11 days before the shooting for underage drinking. He was due again in court in two weeks.

Maruca-Kovac said Hawkins was fired from his job at a McDonald's this week and had recently broken up with his girlfriend. She said he phoned her at 1 p.m. Wednesday, telling her he had left a note. She tried to get him to explain.


'It's too Late'

"He said, 'It's too late,'" and hung up, Maruca-Kovac said. She says she then called Hawkins' mother.

In the note, which was turned over to authorities, Hawkins wrote that he was "sorry for everything" and would not be a burden on his family anymore. He also wrote, "Now I'll be famous."

Maruca-Kovac went to her job as a nurse at the Nebraska Medical Center, where victims of the shooting soon began to arrive.

The first 911 call came in at 3:42 p.m. ET.

Police snipers and SWAT teams were on the scene inside the busy shopping mall within six minutes, police said. The mall was placed on lockdown early Wednesday as shoppers were allowed out, but no one was permitted to enter the mall.

Employees and shoppers at the mall's Von Maur department store described hiding in offices and storerooms for about half an hour, but the shooting, which apparently were random, was already over and Hawkins lay dead on the third floor.

Creighton University Hospital and federal officials confirmed to ABC News that three injured people had been taken there for treatment. A 61-year-old man was described in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the chest.


'Bang, Bang, Bang'
Roxanne Philp, an employee inside the Von Maur store on the third floor, told "GMA" that the last thing she remembered after the gunshots rang out was crawling on the floor toward a back exit.

"We have some gift-wrapping tables with the door on one end," Philp said. "I climbed inside of there and was trying to get the door closed tight so he couldn't see me."

Philp said she heard moaning from the other side of the door, but she just laid there waiting for the gunfire to stop, which it abruptly did. "You want to help the people that you love and the people you don't even know but want to help," she said. "It's just not the situation for it."

Charissa Totten, also working on the third floor of the store, immediately thought about helping guide shoppers toward the backrooms. "I kind of flagged them to the door," she told ABC News. "And then I actually stayed in the doorway because I was afraid there might be someone who hadn't made it into the backroom yet."

It's a holiday shopping nightmare that many in Omaha will have a difficult time shaking. Carol Pardon, who was shopping inside the department store when the rampage began, said it was agonizing to sit and watch as a fellow shopper nearby was hit.


'I Couldn't Help Him, I Couldn't Go to Him'
"I couldn't help him, I couldn't go to him," Pardon said. "That scene, watching his blood, you know, drift along the tiles of the Von Maur department store, that's a scene I'll never forget."

President Bush was in town for a fundraiser in Omaha, but left at about 3 p.m. ET, before the shooting, which took place around 4 p.m. ET.

Friday night members of the Omaha police bomb squad were called to the same mall when a grenade was found in the parking lot. Security guards at the mall found the explosive intact and the bomb squad safely retrieved the device.


The Von Maur store is part of a 22-store Midwestern chain. The sprawling, three-level mall has more than 135 stores and restaurants. It gets 14.5 million visitors every year, according to its Web site.

It was the second mass shooting at a mall this year. In February, nine people were shot, five of them fatally, at Trolley Square mall in Salt Lake City. The gunman, 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic, was shot and killed by police.




Mall gunman made call about suicide note
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071206/ap_on_re_us/mall_shooting;_ylt=AgaYx5bZVe9QY2KEuCDtG1es0NUE

Less than an hour before he killed eight people and himself in a mall shooting spree, a troubled teenage gunman called the woman who had taken him in to tell her about a suicide note — but she said Thursday she never thought he would hurt anyone but himself.

Debora Maruca-Kovac told CBS's "The Early Show" she found the note after Robert A. Hawkins, 19, called to thank her and her family for their help, to express his love, and to tell her he had left the note behind.

"He had said how much he loved his family and all his friends and how he was sorry he was a burden to everybody and his whole life he was a piece of (expletive) and now he'll be famous," she said, describing the note. "I was fearful that he was going to try to commit suicide but I had no idea that he would involve so many other families."

Hawkins carried out his shooting spree from the third floor of the Westroads Mall, the bullets from his rifle cutting through the sound of Christmas music as he terrorized shoppers and employees.

The shooting came after a series of troubling events in his life: He had split with his girlfriend and lost his job. He had a criminal record and had left or been kicked out of his parents' house.

Police Chief Thomas Warren said the shooting appeared to be random and that the dead included five females and four males, including the gunman.

Investigators plan to examine text messages sent between Hawkins and his girlfriend, as well as his computer's hard drive for any Internet communications that could explain how he plotted the shootings, Warren told CNN.

The names of the victims were not released, but officials planned to provide more details in a news conference Thursday morning. Churches in the area were setting up vigils to pray for survivors and remember the dead.

Hawkins moved from his family's home about a year ago. Maruca-Kovac and her husband, whose sons were friends with Hawkins, welcomed him into their home and tried to help him.

"When he first came in the house, he was introverted, a troubled young man who was like a lost pound puppy that nobody wanted," Maruca-Kovac told The Associated Press.

She told the Omaha World-Herald that the night before the shooting, Hawkins and her sons showed her an SKS semiautomatic Russian military rifle — the same type used in the shooting. She said she thought the gun belonged to a member of Hawkins' family. She said she didn't think much of it — the gun looked too old to work.

Records in Sarpy and Washington counties showed Hawkins had a felony drug conviction and several misdemeanor cases filed against him, including an arrest 11 days before the shooting for having alcohol as a minor. He was due in court in two weeks.

Maruca-Kovac said Hawkins had recently broken up with a girlfriend and was fired from McDonald's. She told the World-Herald that Hawkins said he had been fired after being accused of stealing $17 from his till at the restaurant. McDonald's management declined to comment to the newspaper.

Maruca-Kovac said he phoned her at about 1 p.m. Wednesday, telling her he had left a note. She tried to get him to explain.

"He said, 'It's too late,'" and hung up, she told CNN. She then called Hawkins' mother.

In the note, which was turned over to authorities, Hawkins wrote that he was "sorry for everything" and would not be a burden on his family anymore. More ominously, he wrote, "Now I'll be famous."

Maruca-Kovac went to her job as a nurse at the Nebraska Medical Center, where victims of the shooting soon began to arrive.

The first 911 call came in at 1:42 p.m., and the shooting was already over when police arrived six minutes later, authorities said.

"We sent every available officer in the city of Omaha," Sgt. Teresa Negron said.

Hawkins opened fire in a Von Maur store, part of a Midwestern chain. The World-Herald reported that the gunman had a military-style haircut and a black backpack, and wore a camouflage vest.

Mickey Vickory, who worked in the store's third-floor service department, said she heard shots and went with coworkers and customers into a back closet, emerging about a half-hour later when police shouted to come out with their hands up. As police led them to another part of the mall for safety, they saw the victims.

"We saw the bodies and we saw the blood," she said.

Keith Fidler, another Von Maur employee, said he heard a burst of five to six shots followed by 15 to 20 more rounds. Fidler said he huddled in the corner of the men's clothing department with about a dozen other employees until police yelled to get out of the store.

Witness Shawn Vidlak said the shots sounded like a nail gun. At first he thought it was noise from construction work at the mall.

"People started screaming about gunshots," Vidlak said. "I grabbed my wife and kids. We got out of there as fast as we could."

Nebraska Medical Center spokeswoman Andrea McMaster said the hospital had three victims from the mall shooting, including Fred Wilson, 61, who was in critical condition early Thursday with a bullet wound to his chest.

Another critically wounded victim was at Creighton University Medical Center, spokeswoman Lisa Stites said.

On Wednesday night, police used a bomb robot to access a Jeep Cherokee left in the mall parking lot that authorities believe belonged to Hawkins. Officers had seen some wires under some clothing, but no bomb was found.

President Bush was in Omaha on Wednesday for a fundraiser, but left about an hour before the shooting.

"Having just visited with so many members of the community in Omaha today, the president is confident that they will pull together to comfort one another," White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

The sprawling, three-level mall has more than 135 stores and restaurants. It gets 14.5 million visitors every year, according to its Web site.

It was the second mass shooting at a mall this year. In February, nine people were shot, five of them fatally, at Trolley Square mall in Salt Lake City. The gunman, 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic, was shot and killed by police.

The shooting spree was Nebraska's deadliest since January 1958, when Charles Starkweather killed 10 people in Nebraska and another in Wyoming.



Mall Insecurity: Targets for Threats?
Deadly Omaha Mall Shooting Raises Questions About Shopping Center Safety
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/LegalCenter/story?id=3960056

Police have long worried that malls are the perfect target for deranged criminals or terrorists.

There is ample evidence that there is good reason for concern -- from a deadly mall shooting in Omaha Wednesday, in which a shooter took nine lives, including his own, to shootings at malls in Georgia and Texas just this past week.

Last February, an 18-year-old fatally shot five people and injured four others during a mall shooting near Salt Lake City in Utah.

In April a mall shooting spree in Kansas City left three dead.

And in 2002, the D.C. snipers murdered at least two people outside of strip malls.

"Malls are always going to be a soft target, but keep in mind they're particularly busy around the holiday season," former FBI agent Brad Garrett told ABC News.

"So for someone to go into a mall and commit the acts this individual has committed, it creates a mindset in the public, are malls really safe to go to?" he

Last month, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security sent out a bulletin warning of a plot to target malls in major cities.

The intelligence was determined to be of weak credibility, but underscores how seriously law enforcement deems the threat.

Now the concern with the holiday season is that the latest tragedy in Omaha will spur copycats.