Spring Break
8 Shot dead in Nebraska
Katie Nieland (Daily Nebraska/U. Nebraska)
Issue date: 12/7/07 Section: News
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(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.
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.
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.
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.
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