Shooter kills 8, self in Omaha mall

December 7th, 2007 by U Wire

(U-WIRE) LINCOLN, Neb. — A Christmas shopping scene turned into a bloody nightmare Wednesday at an Omaha, Neb. mall.

Robert A. Hawkins, 19, of Bellevue, opened fire in Westroads Mall in west-central Omaha on Wednesday afternoon, killing eight people, then himself.

Hawkins fired on people at Von Maur, located in the southeast portion of the mall, where he was also found dead.

Five women and three men were confirmed dead in addition to the shooter. As of Wednesday night, five people remained wounded, two critically.

Police received a 911 call from the mall at 1:42 p.m., and law enforcement officers responded within six minutes, Omaha Police Chief Thomas Warren said.

Officers evacuated the mall and locked it down, as emergency workers wheeled stretchers toward waiting ambulances.

Warren said the shooter, who wielded a SKS assault rifle, acted alone.

Janet Westenburg of Omaha, who was working at the JC Penney hair salon during the shooting, had just returned from lunch when she and her co-workers were ordered into the parking lot. In the chaos of the events, they were briefly allowed to re-enter the store before joining a stampede back outside.

“There were people running out of stores, people screaming, babies crying; I’ve never seen so much chaos,” she said. “I’m glad to be alive.”

Westenburg ran to her car, watching people huddle in fear outside.

“It was all a little too surreal for me. I’ve never heard such crying or screaming,” she said. “It was like a movie.”

The shooting lasted a few minutes and ended before officers from multiple law enforcement agencies reached the scene, Thomas said.

In just a few minutes, the shootings claimed nearly as many lives as the 50-year-old Charles Starkweather killing spree, which took place over several days.

A TROUBLED YOUTH

Though officers would not speculate on Hawkins’ motive, or how he entered the store with a gun, the shooter left a suicide note.

Debra Maruca-Kovac, who works as a nurse in the surgery department at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, had been letting Hawkins live in her Bellevue home with her two sons.

She heard of the shooting when she arrived at work Wednesday afternoon, and thought of Hawkins immediately.

“I had a sick feeling in my stomach,” she said.

Maruca-Kovac said she tried to act as a motherly figure in the 19-year-old’s life. He lived with the family for almost a year and a half, she said. He dropped out of school but got his GED.

“He was trying to get his act together,” Maruca-Kovac said.

Though Hawkins was withdrawn, she said, he hadn’t acted “any sadder than he normally is.”

He sometimes drank alcohol and smoked marijuana, and he often talked about how he wished he were dead, Maruca-Kovac said.

Hawkins attempted suicide once when he was younger, she said. The family feared he would try again — but never something like this.

Maruca-Kovac said Hawkins had been fired from his job at McDonald’s on Wednesday and speculated that incident might have pushed him over the edge.

Earlier today, Maruca-Kovac found the suicide note next to Hawkins’ bed.

She said Hawkins wrote he had been a “piece of shit all of his life, (and) now he’s going to be famous,” Maruca-Kovac said.

Hawkins called one of Maruca-Kovac’s sons at 1 p.m. and spoke with him for a couple of minutes, she said. He sounded upset, thanked the family and said he was sorry for everything. He could not be persuaded to return to the house, she said.

Forty-two minutes later, Omaha Police received the first reports of the shooting.

Essentially, Maruca-Kovac said, Hawkins was “just a misunderstood kid.”

THE MALL

The lights of Westroads Mall remained eerily bright late into Wednesday night. Holiday lights adorned the Von Maur department store. Inside, the shops remained unlocked.

It looked just like a normal night — minus the shoppers.

Joe A. Copenhaver, who owns The Winery, a business across the street from the mall, said shoppers and employees flocked to businesses around the area after the shooting. Many left personal possessions or couldn’t get to cars stuck behind police lines.

Store managers didn’t have time to close their shops.

Copenhaver let people use The Winery’s phone and restroom.

“People wanted to get home and comfort their families,” he said.

Those who stayed watched news reports and waited for more information.

The Westroads mall will remain closed today, Warren said.

“We’ve locked down the entire mall, and the facility will be secured until the processing of the crime scene,” he said during a press conference at the mall.

Jean Huseman, who works at Anything Goes For Hair, a salon across from the mall, said a group sought shelter in the salon after the shooting.

“(People) had their hair half done,” she said. “There was people everywhere; they were really scared.”

At first, no one knew Hawkins had shot himself. Huseman said employees locked the store’s doors and watched as police arrived.

“We always felt like this was a pretty safe neighborhood,” Huseman said. “We hope to go back to feeling like that soon.”

At DHL, a delivery company across from the mall, employees sheltered people who couldn’t get to their cars.

Personal possessions left by mall workers and customers remained stuck inside, said Vicki Fitzwater, a DHL employee.

“I see Von Maur every day across the street; you look at it, and it’s nothing,” she said. “And then today you look at it and shake your head.”

A LOCAL, AND NATIONAL, REACTION

“Today, the city of Omaha and the state of Nebraska have endured a terrible tragedy,” Sen. Ben Nelson said in a written statement. “Though some of our neighbors have suffered devastating losses today, I know that they can count on the support of the Omaha community at this time.”

Throughout the state and country, others offered similar condolences. Von Maur issued a statement from its corporate headquarters in Davenport, Iowa, saying the company was “deeply saddened.”

At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, students reacted with disbelief.

“It’s really unexpected, especially at Westroads,” said Kristen Jackson, a freshman physics major from Omaha. “Not that you ever expect something like this.”

Andrew Antonio, a sophomore accounting major, said his mother was about to pull into the mall area when she saw police cars and ambulances rushing in.

Linda Antonia, a registered dental hygienist, pulled up to do some Christmas shopping at the mall.

“I thought it was a big accident, and then I saw that the police were going left and right,” she said. “They were going up and over medians.”

Jamie Swinarski, a sophomore advertising major from Omaha, watched news reports from the Nebraska Union. Westroads is the only mall she shopped at when she lived in Omaha.

“I’d still go, but it wouldn’t be the same,” she said. “I’d be walking in the footsteps of someone who died there.”

Johnny Perez, Chris Rosacker, Katie Steiner, Adam Templeton, Jamie Klein, Jenna Gibson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

By Katie Nieland
Daily Nebraskan (U. Nebraska)

Posted in News