Dude shoots up mall.

[Cure]

OMAHA, Neb. - A man opened fire with a rifle at a busy department store Wednesday, killing eight people before taking his own life, in an attack that made holiday shoppers run screaming through a mall and barricade themselves in dressing rooms. Five more people were wounded, two critically.
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The gunman left a suicide note that was found at his home by his mother, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak. TV station KETV reported that the note said he wanted to "go out in style."

The official identified the gunman as Robert A. Hawkins, age 19 or 20.

Witnesses said the gunman fired down on shoppers from a third-floor balcony of the Von Maur store. He was found dead on the third floor with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and his victims were discovered on the second and third floors, police said.

"My knees rocked. I didn't know what to do, so I just ran with everybody else," said Kevin Kleine, 29, who was shopping with her 4-year-old daughter at the Westroads Mall, in a prosperous neighborhood on the city's west side. She said she hid in a dressing room with four other shoppers and an employee.

Sgt. Teresa Negron said the gunman killed eight people, then apparently killed himself. Authorities gave no motive for the attack and said they did not know whether he said anything during the rampage.

Police received a 911 call from someone inside the mall, and shots could be heard in the background, Negron said. By the time officers arrived six minutes later, the shooting was over, she said.

"Everybody was scared, and we didn't know what was going on," said Belene Esaw-Kagbara, 31, a Von Maur employee. "We didn't know what to do. I was praying that God protect us."

Mickey Vickory, who worked at Von Maur's third-floor service department, said she heard shots at about 1:50 p.m.

She and her co-workers and customers went into a back closet behind the wrapping room to hide, then emerged about a half-hour later when police shouted to come out with their hands up. As police took 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.

A 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."

Shortly after the shooting, which came three weeks before Christmas, a group of shoppers came out of the building with their hands raised. Some were still holding shopping bags.

Police told people to park their cars at businesses across from the mall and to wait for their loved ones, then directed them to an Omaha hotel to await information.

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

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.

Sad indeed. So how long before this is blamed on video-games?

[Raph's Girl]

See.. now THIS is why I hate going to malls. Too many people and nut cases wanting to shoot em up.

[Voltron]

This easily has the best thread title in the whole section. Kudos Cure.

[Aelia]

This is pretty sad, of course most shootings are.

How long will it be til this is blamed on video games? I'm sure Jack Thompson is cooking something up as we speak.

[愛]

Didn't Thompson lose his license to practice law?

[Drtooth]

And he did it just to become famous. Yeah. And we sure as hell don't need to toughen gun control so wackos like this can't have dangerous devices..

[Peanut]

Thread title of the year?

[愛]

I love how this thread has no PC at all. "Dude" and "shoots up" is the best way to describe it.

[Jo Dawn]

Originally Posted by Drtooth

And he did it just to become famous. Yeah. And we sure as hell don't need to toughen gun control so wackos like this can't have dangerous devices..

Well... yeah and isn't it just sad that he wanted to go out like that? That people think if they do something like this they will be famous? And the sad state of it is, that it's true. This kid is already famous. It's not very conducive to stopping things like this from happening again.

[Peanut]

He's not famous. Very few people will bother to learn his name, and the few that do are just going to forget next week, anyways. I hope he's having fun, rotting in hell, with the knowledge that everyone is going to forget his pathetic stunt in a months time.

[Ecto Jedi]

Originally Posted by Peanut

He's not famous. Very few people will bother to learn his name, and the few that do are just going to forget next week, anyways. I hope he's having fun, rotting in hell, with the knowledge that everyone is going to forget his pathetic stunt in a months time.

I'll venture a guess and say that the victims' families won't be forgetting his pathetic stunt. But you're right, he's not famous, and most people won't ever hear his name or see his picture ever again once the news coverage dies down.

[Katie]

I agree with you Jo. It was a horrible horrible thing he did. No question there at all. No excuses for it. But I can't help but feel a little sad for him as well. Have you heard all the things that happened to him in the last year? Parents kicked him out....got fired from his job......broke up with his girlfriend....Those are some awfully hard things to deal with for some one without depression. If you do have depression, that kind of stuff just adds to the hopeless feeling.

horrible, awful, unforgivable way to get attention...but isn't it sad that no one realized that that was all he was looking for? Just a little love and attention? And to feel like he was not some insignificant piece of sh!t that no one wanted?

What he did was unacceptable. But I also think that alot of other people dropped the ball here too.


Let the ripping apart of me begin... do your worst. I'm pretty similar to that kid after reading all that. Only difference? when I was at my lowest point someone gave a damn about me.

[Jo Dawn]

Hey, I agree with you, Katie.

horrible, awful, unforgivable way to get attention...but isn't it sad that no one realized that that was all he was looking for? Just a little love and attention? And to feel like he was not some insignificant piece of sh!t that no one wanted?

What he did was unacceptable. But I also think that alot of other people dropped the ball here too.

I completely agree.

And to the others, you know... He might not be famous in regular movie star standards... But what scares me is he WILL be famous to some other people who have a mental illness...that think the same way as he did. They will not forget him. They will want to emulate him because, to them, in their state of mind, he has just become immortal. It doesn't matter how famous or not famous we think he is; their mental state will uphold him.

That's what I meant.

[Cure]

Originally Posted by Katie

Have you heard all the things that happened to him in the last year? Parents kicked him out....got fired from his job......broke up with his girlfriend....Those are some awfully hard things to deal with for some one without depression.

Oh, please. Those are little things. I can't relate to my parents kicking me out, but still. Not the worst that could happen to break someone. He was just weak, is all.

[Peanut]

Yeah, that sH8t be all common and what not. He should just stop f8cking whining! OH WAIT! HE DEAD! SNAAAAP!

[Janus Prospero]

This is why I pack heat. I refuse to be taken out by some sorry POS with self-esteem issues.

[Spitfire]

Man I thought I had a sick sense of humor

[Ecto Jedi]

Originally Posted by Janus Prospero

This is why I pack heat. I refuse to be taken out by some sorry POS with self-esteem issues.

This is why I live in Canada. I refuse to be taken out by some sorry POS with self-esteem issues or an over acting, overly defensive gun nut.

Back me up, Peanut.

[Peanut]

*backs* /post not long enough so I had to type this stuff out! Also, I like pizza, which i am eating.

[Katie]

Originally Posted by TheCure

Oh, please. Those are little things. I can't relate to my parents kicking me out, but still. Not the worst that could happen to break someone. He was just weak, is all.

Maybe they seem like little things to you, but people react to things differently. It's been pretty widely reported that this kid's suicide note said that he was tired of being a burdon and that he was a piece of sh!t. Well, That tired of being a burdon to others phrase is something I used to say alot when I was depressed. If you feel like that AND you lose your job AND you break up with your girlfriend then you begin to feel more and more like you don't matter. Yeah, those are little things....but maybe to him they were the most important things in his world.

My work is basically my family and being excommunicated by my group of lunch friends because I don't "look right (ie wear nice designer clothes)" and don't "fit in" and "can't relate to what we talk about because I'm not married and don't get it" has really really hurt me. Maybe some people would be "oh well, stupid bitches. whatever", but I thought of these girls like sisters.

as I said before, I don't advocate or excuse what he did....but I can certianly understand how he was feeling prior to this horrible act.