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Shooting At Mall In Omaha, Nebraska

(Click here to view the original thread on the MassCops Message Board)

Posted by: kwflatbed

Update At 5:15 10 dead including the shooter

OMAHA, Neb. (CBS) ― At least one person was shot Wednesday at a busy Omaha mall, and police locked down the shopping center while they searched for a gunman.
It was unclear whether the shooter was still inside the Westroads mall in west Omaha or how many people were wounded. Initial, unconfirmed reports suggest as many as five people were wounded in the shooting.
One witness told a local news crew the gunman opened fire from the upper tier of the mall, firing down toward the crowd.

President Bush had been in Omaha earlier today as part of a fundraiser but left the area about an hour before the shooting.

Report: 2 Dead In Omaha Mall Shooting

Witness: 35-40 Shots Fired At Omaha Mall


OMAHA, Neb. -- Two people are reported dead and more injured after a person with a gun opened fire inside a mall in Omaha Wednesday afternoon. A search is on for a suspected gunman and the mall has been locked down.


Watch LIVE



Police radio reports monitored by an Omaha TV station said that two people were dead. Police representatives are not yet commenting publicly and have yet to confirm any injuries or arrests.

It was unclear whether the shooter was still inside the mall or whether other people were wounded at the Westroads Mall. Two people were seen being removed on stretchers, and rescue workers were taking more stretchers inside the building.

Jennifer Kramer, a witness, told Omaha TV station KETV that she heard 35 to 40 shots as she was taking cover inside the mall. Another witness, who was shopping with Kramer, said she "just kept hoping God would spare us."

Keith Fidler, a Von Maur store employee, told The Associated Press he heard a burst of five to six shots followed by 15 to 20 more shots. 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.

Fidler said he did not see the shooting but saw a person lying still by an elevator as he was leaving the store.

A woman who answered the phone at an Old Navy store said 20 to 30 customers were huddled with employees in a back storeroom.

"All we know was people were running and screaming down the hallway by Von Maur saying there was a shooting, and then they locked us down," said the woman, who said her name was Heidi.

Another witness told KETV that she was locked inside the mall. She said she was doing Christmas shopping at a store called Younkers, when an announcement was made that no one would be allowed to leave.

Just before 2 p.m., she said, another announcement was made that shoppers could leave but would not be allowed back in.

Dozens of police and sheriff's cars have converged on the mall, and first responders could be seen carrying stretchers into the building.

A description of the shooter, broadcast over scanners, was that he was in an Army-green vest and was holding a rifle.

Another Westroads shopper told KETV that she heard three pops. She said a Bath and Body Works store manager approached her and told her to get out of the mall hallway as there was a situation, and a shooter had not been located.

http://www.wmur.com/news/14783006/detail.html


Posted by: Inspector

Late reports 10 dead five injured. Case still unfolding. It's now believed situation is under control with no active shooting presently.


Posted by: Wolfman

Another miserable failure of the "gun free" zone. More lives lost because those who follow the rules were not allowed to protect themselves or others, while those who break the rules are allowed to rampage unabated.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pag...&u_sid=2355124
The site is either slow or down but here is a quote form a cached page:
Quote:
Few merchants see need to post no-weapons sign
BY JOHN KEENAN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER


Signs you'll see at the entrance of O'Connor's Irish Pub in the Old Market:

"Restrooms are for customers only."

"City Council: Please Send in the Non-Smokers."

What you won't see is a "No Concealed Weapons" sign reminding customers that bars are among the few businesses in Nebraska where it is illegal to carry a gun.

Almost three months after the start of a state law allowing people to carry concealed weapons, signs banning guns from privately owned businesses haven't exactly popped up all over the Omaha area.

In fact, although some chains such as Bag 'N Save have posted signs and shopping malls such as Westroads Mall have added "no weapons" clauses to their posted codes of conduct, many small businesses haven't seen the need. And at least one that did later reconsidered.

Under the law, concealed handguns are banned from some businesses, including bars and financial institutions. Other businesses and employers can ban concealed weapons from their property by posting a sign that guns are not allowed.



Posted by: Inspector

Update --Nine or ten dead including 19 year old rifle toting shooter who left a suicide note and reportedly said he "wanted to go out in style." Reports say he had a court case scheduled for today but did not indicate the charge.


Posted by: kwflatbed

Mall Shooting
Suspected Mall Shooter Identified As Bellevue Man, 19

Witness 'Kept Hoping God Would Spare Us'


POSTED: 2:01 pm CST December 5, 2007
UPDATED: 5:35 pm CST December 5, 2007



OMAHA, Neb. -- The shooter at Westroads Mall was identified as Robert A. Hawkins of Bellevue, according to the Sarpy County Sheriff's Department.
Hawkins, 19, had been arrested on a couple of misdemeanors in November and was due in court this month. One charge included minor in possession. He was arrested on Nov. 24.

Sarpy County deputies said they are getting a warrant to search Hawkins' home in the Quail Creek neighborhood in Bellevue.
4:30 p.m., Rollie Yost, in the Sarpy County Sheriff's Office, said shortly after the shooting, Hawkins' mother walked into its office with a note that "could be interpreted as suicidal."

Yost said Sarpy County is working with Omaha police.

A friend of Hawkins, Shawn, told KETV NewsWatch 7 said Hawkins had been on antidepressants. He was staying with friends in Quail Creek, the friend said, and he said Hawkins had recently begun bouncing from job to job and making "some bad judgement calls." Shawn said he was shocked to hear it was the man he calls "Robbie." Shawn said he had heard through the grapevine on Wednesday that Robbie was suicidal.

Shawn said he last saw Hawkins a few months ago.

Witness Prayed


A shopper who was inside Westroads Mall when a gunman killed eight people and himself Wednesday said she prayed she'd survive.

Witness reports vary widely. Jennifer Kramer, said she and her mother were hiding in a men's department at Von Maur. Kramer's mother said she "just kept hoping God would spare us."

Kramer and her mother said they heard 35 to 40 shots as they was taking cover inside the mall.

Matthew Waddell said he was on a scaffold at the store when he heard at least 20 shots. He got down and helped shuffle shoppers to safety.

Another witness said she saw the shooter, who she described as very tall. She said he was shooting in the air. She said she ran.

Police: 9 Dead, 5 Injured


Omaha police said nine people were dead, including the alleged shooter, after shots were fired inside the Von Maur store at Westroads Mall on Wednesday afternoon.

Five more were injured, two critically, police said. Police asked family members to go to the Hampton Inn at Westroads to learn more from police. The police chaplain was seen arriving there after 4 p.m. Wednesday to meet with family members and officers who responded.

Omaha police Sgt. Teresa Negron said there are nine fatalities. She said officers found the suspected shooter dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Negron could not describe the shooter, but said he was a male. Negron said the victims were inside Von Maur.

Most of the victims were round near the customer service area of the retailer's outlet in Omaha.

Creighton University Medical Center said it had three victims and two were fatalities. The dead were a man and a woman, and no further details were released.

The Nebraska Medical Center said it has three gunshot victims, all wounded but alive. Paul Vaultus, at NMC, said a 61-year-old man was shot in the chest and was in surgery before 3:45 p.m. A 34-year-old man had a wound and was in fair condition. A 55-year-old man had cuts to the face.

Police said they believe the gunman used a rifle. Police said he was found on the third floor.

Negron said every available officer in the city was sent to the mall, and it took six minutes from the time of the call for the first officers to arrive. She said that at 4 p.m., officers were inside the mall talking to every person inside.

The Von Maur corporate headquarters in Davenport, Iowa, sent a statement to media: "We are deeply saddened by the horrific shooting at our Omaha store this afternoon. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this tragic event, as well as their families. We are cooperating fully with the Omaha and Nebraska state police departments."

The Omaha Fire Department's Robert Dahlquist said his units were responsible for taking seven victims from the scene. He said two of those people died at hospital. The gunman was not among those transported.

Witness Accounts Vary


Shoppers and workers scattered and took cover, police and witnesses said. Jimmy Toney told KETV NewsWatch 7 that his wife was working at customer service when she witnessed the shooting. He said the first 45 minutes after he heard about the shooting but could not reach his wife were very difficult. He said his wife expected to be detained by police for several hours.

A Westroads kiosk worker, Kathy, told KETV NewsWatch 7 that she heard three pops. She said a Bath and Body Works manager approached her and told her to get out of the mall hallway as there was a situation, and a shooter had not been located.

Another witness said he heard four or five shots in rapid succession. Shawn Vidlak said he was told while he was inside the mall that as many as five people had been injured.

Colby Barak told KETV NewsWatch 7 that she was on lockdown inside Westroads Mall. She said she was doing Christmas shopping at Younkers, and an announcement was made that no one would be allowed to leave. Just before 2 p.m., Barrett said, another announcement was made that shoppers could leave but would not be allowed back in.

A group of paramedics made their way into Von Maur at about 2:25 p.m.

Doug, a shopper at the mall, said police are restricting the movements of people inside the mall.

Outside the mall, shoppers were seen leaving with their hands over their heads.

Inside a first-floor dressing room at Von Maur, Julie used her cell phone to call KETV NewsWatch 7 and report that she was with a group of girls and they were scared. Julie said she heard noise getting closer, but she didn't know what had happened. She said she went out of the dressing room and saw other people in the store running and laying down, so she went back into the dressing room.

Omaha Burke High School was locked down for a time, but has since reopened.

President George W. Bush had been in Omaha earlier on Wednesday, but the president's flight lifted off about an hour before the shooting reports came in.

Grenade Found Last Week At Same Mall


A grenade was found Friday night at an Omaha shopping mall.

Officers went to the northwest corner of the parking lot at Westroads Mall after someone reported finding an explosive device. The mall security directed officers to the area of the parking lot where the device was located. The Omaha Police Bomb Squad Unit was called and removed the intact grenade safely from the area.

A source told KETV NewsWatch 7 the grenade was lying on the ground with no note or information, but that it did have a pin in it. The source said it looked like a pineapple grenade.

No one has connected the grenade and the shootings.


Previous Stories: http://www.ketv.com/news/14782867/detail.html


Posted by: mpd61

Damn...
Anti-depressants are becoming so prevalent, and they cause suicidal thoughts in teens and young adults. Sounds like the case here eh?
What a tragedy


Posted by: LA Copper

This is one of the reasons why I always carry off-duty...


Posted by: kwflatbed

Omaha Mall Shooter A Dropout With Criminal Past

BELLEVUE, Neb. (CBS) ― A high school dropout with a criminal past, Robert A. Hawkins had struggled to overcome depression. But friends thought he was making strides.
Then, about two weeks ago, he lost his girlfriend. A week later, it was his job. His friends worried he would regress.
Police said Hawkins, 19, went into an Omaha shopping mall on Wednesday and began a shooting rampage that killed eight people. It ended when he turned his high-powered rifle on himself. The rampage was as troubling as it was puzzling for those who knew him.
"He came to us like a little lost puppy. He was always very sensitive and caring, always wanting to know how everybody was doing," Debora Maruca-Kovac, a surgical nurse whose family took in Hawkins after her 17- and 19-year-old sons befriended him, told CBS' The Early Show. "He just needed a chance to get on his feet."
"I was fearful that he was going to try to commit suicide," she told The Early Show. "But I had no idea that he would involve so many other families."
Maruca-Kovac added, "I feel so sorry for him, that he was so lost and alone that he had to resort to this."
Hawkins had been in trouble before. There was a felony drug conviction in March 2005 and the disorderly conduct charge seven months later. He was due in court later this month on charges he contributed to the delinquency of a minor.
But Maruca-Kovac said she saw nothing foreshadowing the horror Hawkins would inflict during his last moments alive. She remembered a gentle young man who loved animals. She regarded him so benignly that when he showed her an SKS semiautomatic rifle the night before his attack, she thought little of it, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
"He was a very helpful young man, but he was quiet," she said.
"He didn't cause a lot of trouble. He tried to help out all the time," Maruca-Kovac said. "He was very thankful for everything. He wasn't a violent person at all."
But she had a feeling of despair soon after she learned about Wednesday shootings. By then, she had learned of a suicide note that Hawkins had left behind.
"I had a feeling it could be him," she said.
She said she and her husband let Hawkins stay with them after he left or was kicked out of his family's house. Court records show that at least once he was termed a ward of the state, which legally removed him from his parents' custody.
With Hawkins living in her home, Maruca-Kovac could see he had a drinking problem and was an occasional marijuana smoker. He enjoyed music and video games - "normal teenager stuff," she said.
"He was depressed, and he had always been depressed," Maruca-Kovac said. "But he looked like he was getting better."
Hawkins had earned a GED after dropping out of Papillion-La Vista High School. He got a driver's license after moving in with the Maruca-Kovacs and five months ago started working at a McDonald's restaurant near their raised ranch-style home in a middle-class neighborhood in Bellevue, Maruca-Kovac said.
He was fired from that job this week, Maruca-Kovac said. Two employees of the McDonald's who were eating there Wednesday said they had been told not to talk to anyone about Hawkins.
Hawkins was not on any medication for mental illness, but he had been treated in the past for depression and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Maruca-Kovac said.
Hawkins lived with several friends for a couple days at a time before landing at Maruca-Kovac's house last year, she said.
"He was like a lost pound puppy that nobody wanted," she said. "I felt sorry for him. I let him stay, and we tried to get him on his feet."
Maruca-Kovac, who works at Nebraska Medical Center, said she was getting ready for work Wednesday when Hawkins phoned her at about 1 p.m., 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.
"Now I'll be famous," he wrote.
Maruca-Kovac went to the medical center, where victims of the shooting soon began to arrive.

http://wbztv.com/national/omaha.mall....2.604089.html


Posted by: topcop14

Quote:
Originally Posted by LA Copper
This is one of the reasons why I always carry off-duty...
+ 1
To bad no one was there to activate this nut jobs off button with a well placed shot.


Posted by: justanotherparatrooper

Merry freakin Christmas...tis the season!


Posted by: id1811xecj

You would think someone in the Mall was carrying in the Plains States.


Posted by: kwflatbed

Quote:
Originally Posted by id1811xecj
You would think someone in the Mall was carrying in the Plains States.
If you read the articles the mall prohibited CC carry.


Posted by: id1811xecj

Quote:
Originally Posted by kwflatbed
If you read the articles the mall prohibited CC carry.
Good times.


Posted by: Wolfman

...and probably the reason this little nutjob went to the mall to do his dirty work, instead of attacking a National Guard armory or police station. Either way he would have gotten the headlines he wanted, but the mall had the added benefit of a bumper crop of helpless victims.


Posted by: kwflatbed

911 Tapes Illustrate Fear in Nebraska Mall During Gunman's Rampage


AP


OMAHA, Neb. — Three quick gunshots, then nothing. Then a gasp, and again, nothing. Then more gunfire, and a 911 operator's questions going unanswered.
The Omaha Police Department released tapes Thursday of 911 calls made around the time teenage gunman Robert A. Hawkins' bullets tore through a crowded shopping mall. He would kill eight people and himself inside the Von Maur department store before it was over.
One caller who hasn't been identified wouldn't — or couldn't — answer an operator's questions as the sound of gunfire echoed in the background.
The recording begins with three distinct "pops."
The next sound is a gasp.
"911. What's your emergency?" the operator asks.
The operator gets no response — just 47 seconds of the staccato patter of gunfire, broken by pauses, before the line goes dead.

• Click here to watch video: Witness Recalls Shooting.

• Click here for more about the eight victims.

• Click here for photos.

Some of the 911 calls came from loved ones who merely heard about the shooting. But others came from those inside the mall, like a woman who took cover as she told of hearing dozens of shots.
Operator: "What's your emergency?"
Woman: "I'm at Von Maur and I think there's shots being fired all over the place."
Operator: "Yeah. We're on our way out there. Anybody been hit?"
Woman: "I haven't seen anything. I am hiding in a clothes rack."
Operator: "OK. We're on our way out there, ma'am."
Woman: "I mean, there's been like, 50 gunshots."
An operator asks another woman calling from the mall if she had seen if anyone was shot. The woman says she hasn't, then another woman nearby can be heard screaming frantically.
"Oh my God! Everybody's shot up in there! Oh my God, help us!" she says.
One woman said she saw the shooter open fire.
Woman: "He came up the elevator and opened fire in the elevator area."
Operator: "Walked off the elevator and started firing?"
Woman: "He started firing in the air."
Another woman described Hawkins' gun, which police believe was an AK-47 assault rifle he stole from his stepfather.
Woman: "It was large. It was a very, very large gun."
Operator: "Was it like a pistol type gun?"
Woman: "It was big. It had, God. It looked like it wasn't a rifle. It looked like an automatic type of gun."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,315765,00.html


Posted by: kwflatbed

How many must die first?

We have another horrible story of mass murder. This time it was 20 year-old Robert A. Harkins, a convicted felon, deranged and suicidal gunman attacking a soft target rich with unarmed people to kill. No armed security or armed civilians with concealed weapons permits are allowed on the property. Any gunman or terrorist is reasonably guaranteed that no one could or would be able to fight back or provide any challenge at all.

Nebraska was one of the last states to allow law abiding residents to obtain a permit to carry a concealed firearm. Of course when that provision passed places like the Omaha, NE Westroads Mall rushed to bar the permit holders through posted signs.

The Westroads mall management had in every way facilitated and abetted Hawkins during his violent rampage by making sure everyone was helpless and unprotected.

The armed 20 year-old whack-job was wearing camouflage clothing while armed with a stolen SKS .30 cal rifle. Hawkins was unstoppable until he decided to end his own life. Mall employees and shoppers had no choice but to run, hide and pray they’d somehow avoid being shot.

Malls or any institution that deals with crowds of people are ripe for similar assaults. They need a plan to deal with this kind of attack. They need experts to assist them and their local police agencies may be a part of the problem rather than a solution because they echo the sentiments of the gun rights hating mayors that run the larger cities. The police chiefs are told to promote the idea of more Gun Free Zones, to advise businesses to maintain unarmed security and to never challenge armed maniacs. I guess the plan is to dial 911 and then wait to die or if you’re in luck the maniac/s will simply run out of ammunition.

I guess we don’t remember that only one of the 9/11 hijacked planes did not strike its target. That of course was flight #93 where passengers revolted and made the attack impossible for the terrorists. Of course the revolt was too little and too late to have prevented the breach of the plane’s flight deck. That and the FAA made sure trained and certified local police officers could no longer carry guns on planes while off duty. Two such disarmed officers were on those doomed 9/11 planes.

America cannot afford another mass shooting in such environments as Westroads Mall.

For better public safety all event venues must:
1. Allow all off duty cops and people authorized to carry firearms the right to do that within the venue.
2. Hire only trained and armed security people.
3. Have a couple of .223 rifles available for accurate shooting over longer distances.
4. People entering these venues should be observed for behavior profiles.
5. Mall operators need to let the local cops know they are welcome whether on or off duty with their firearms.

To continue down the road of simply hoping that won’t happen here has to end and such places as Westroads Mall have to become tougher targets for violence.

Stand by now for the COPY-CATS and I don't mean some rock group!
Posted by Crimefile

http://www.crimefilenews.com/


Posted by: Barbrady

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolfman
...and probably the reason this little nutjob went to the mall to do his dirty work, instead of attacking a National Guard armory or police station. Either way he would have gotten the headlines he wanted, but the mall had the added benefit of a bumper crop of helpless victims.
Yup, headlines is all he wanted. The coward needed a hug and threw himself a pity party.




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