Omaha Gunman's Note: "Now I'll Be Famous"
8 Killed, 5 Hurt In Mall Slaying; 19-Year-Old Shooter Kills Self, Left Suicide Letter
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What Set Off Mall Gunman?
Police are investigating why Robert A. Hawkins shot and killed shoppers at an Omaha mall. As Maggie Rodriguez reports, friends and family say Hawkins had a troubled life.
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Omaha Massacre Up Close
A young man opened gunfire onto a crowd of shoppers at an Omaha mall, killing 8 people before turning the gun on himself. Dean Reynolds reports from Nebraska.
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Mall Massacre In Omaha
A gunman opened fire on holiday shoppers, killing eight and wounding 5 others before turning the gun on himself. Michelle Bandur of CBS affiliate KMTV reports
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Police vehicles block the entrance to the Westroads Mall, site of Wednesday's deadly shooting, in Omaha, Neb., Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007. Eight people were killed and five wounded before the shooter, Robert A. Hawkins, ended the horror by taking his own life. He left behind a note that read, in part, "Now I'll be famous." (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
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In the alleged suicide note, which was turned over to authorities, Robert A. Hawkins wrote that he was "sorry for everything" and would not be a burden on his family anymore. (Papillion-La Vista High School)
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Crime lab technicians at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Dec. 5, 2007, hours after a gunman opened fire at the Von Maur department store, killing 8 people and wounding 5 others before allegedly killing himself. (AP Photo/Dave Weaver)
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A victim is wheeled out of the Westroads Mall after a gunman opened fire at a Von Maur store in the mall and killed nine people, including himself, in Omaha, Neb., Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007. (AP)
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Shoppers file out of the Von Maur store with their hands up after a shooting at Westroad Mall Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007. 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. (AP/Omaha World-Herald, Kiley Cruse)
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Photo Essay
Omaha Mall Shooting
Man, 19, goes on shooting rampage in shopping mall, kills 8, then himself.
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Images from some of the more notable cases in recent years.
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Stories:
- Inside The Mind Of A Mass Murderer
- Details On Shooting Victims
- Omaha Gunman's Note: "Now I'll Be Famous"
- Mall Shooter A Dropout With Criminal Past
- Visit To Mall, Then Gunshots
- Staying Safe At Malls
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In Depth:
A department store employee was pressing a suit for a customer. A woman was making a quick stop to buy Christmas presents before picking up her son from school. Christmas music played.
The gunman stopped on the third floor and cut through the sounds with gunfire. Shoppers and employees at the Westroads Mall scrambled for cover in dressing rooms, clothing racks, offices and storage areas.
He appeared to fire without apparent motive or specific targets, reports CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds.
Eight people were killed and five wounded before the shooter ended the horror by taking his own life. He left behind a note that read, in part, "Now I'll be famous."
The victims' names were given at a press conference Thursday by Omaha Police Chief Thomas Warren. The victims are aged 24 to 66, employees as well as customers, 5 females and four males deceased, including the suspect, Robert Hawkins.
The deceased include Gary Scharf, 48, of Lincoln, Neb, a customer, John McDonald, 65, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, a customer, Angie Schuster, 36, an employee, Maggie Webb, 24, an employee, Janet Jorgenen, 66, an employee, Diane Trent, 53, an employee, Gary Joy, 56, an employee and Becky Flynn, 47, an employee.
Omaha mayor Mike Fahey offered his condolences to the families of the victims.
"There are no words to adequately express our feelings this morning," Fahey said.
"I saw employees taking a bunch of people into the dressing room, but I didn't want to go," shopper Jennifer Kramer told CBS' The Early Show. "I didn't know if this guy was going to come looking for people in dressing rooms, so we hid in a pants rack towards the back of the men's department."
Robert A. Hawkins, 19, had a criminal record and had been kicked out of his parents' house. Police have not said anything about the motive, but Hawkins had suffered a string of setbacks over the past year.
A family friend said he recently broke up with a girlfriend and got fired, and a source told CBS News affiliate KMTV-TV he tried, but failed, to get into the Army.
Hawkins 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 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," Maruca-Kovac told The Early Show. "He just needed a chance to get on his feet."
"We never saw violence in him," she said.
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 was fired from his job at a McDonald's this week and had recently broken up with a girlfriend. She 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.

Maruca-Kovac went to her job as a nurse at the Nebraska Medical Center, where victims of the shooting soon began to arrive.
"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."
"I feel so sorry for him, that he was so lost and alone that he had to resort to this."
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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See all 189 CommentsAnd CBS is doing its part to make it happen.
These things happen all the time in our inner cities and nobody seems to care. It''s only a matter of time before the problems in the inner cities become a problem in the suburbs. If we let it happen to any child, we put risk of it happening to any child.
People need to wise up and stop thinking these things don''t happen here. Why shouldn''t it?
The police will take minutes to arrive once they are called and by then it will be too late.
Your own personal safety is your responsibility, not the government or the police. If your state allows concealed carry, get educated, get trained, and get prepared:
www.a-human-right.com
"If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun."
-- The Dalai Lama
You can''t be serious, we still have good paying jobs, you know the ones requiring some more than a high school education. If you would like to go beyond that and go to grad school then one''s prospects for getting a job that pays in excess of $100k is pretty good if they did good in grad school. Really, the jobs are fine, stop asking for every loser to be a winner when they are not willing to do anything about it themselves. It is rather tiring to hear the same BS excuse. Numerous people in this country have went from lowest to highest economic rungs in just one generation because the parents pushed their kids and blamed themselves instead of others. Your neighbors are merely giving their kids more excuses, the likely end result is they''ll end up living the rest of their life that way as losers that always blame somebody else for their own loser life.
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I *don''t* feel sorry for him. I feel sorry for all the other lives and families he affected before ending his worthless, sorry (pun intended) life.
Networks: STOP THE COVERAGE!!!! There is another nutcase waiting on the sidelines for their turn to be famous. The more airtime you give this garbage, the more inspired others become.
Nutcases: Just because you hate your life, stop trying to go out with the grand gesture! You just might be killing the person who will cure a major disease (think cancer). Simply walk out into the woods and end your misery. Don''t inflict it on anyone else.
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I doubt that this person had acquired his weapon through legal channels. The day I have to give up my gun will be a cold day in h*e*l*l. I am a hardworking member of a society that honors that right (so far). Why should a loser like this guy be able to carry a gun if I am not?
"This is yet another horrible incident where innocent people lose their lives because of guns and the "right to bear arms"."
People did not lose their lives because of guns. The gun did not say ''I will point myself at a human and fire''. A person killed people.
If we all registered for a concealed weapon permit (not necessarily actually carrying a weapon), people that want to do this would think twice because ANYONE would have the power to take them out before they can ''become famous''.
You surely must understand that if guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.
--- He probably didn''t get the gun through legal channels... but guns are so prevalent and accessible in this country, anyone can get a gun (or steal one) and go postal.
No offense to you, but there are many "responsible" gun owners in this country who end up losing it and shooting people, and i just don''t trust other people to be responsible with dangerous weapons. I''m sure you''re responisble; but there''s a lot of trust that people have to give to gun owners to be responsible and not dangerous.
To me, selling a gun that can kill 15 people is like selling a bomb and telling someone not to use it to commit crimes.
Too many guns have been manufactured and sold in this country and most are used in violent crime.
I believe that the right to bear arms should be revoked, frankly.
Posted by whatithink
It''s even harder to defend yourself against a gunmen with knife. Leave the second amendment alone.
"dredre2k--A nation that animates such creatures as this abomination...this "famous" McDonald''''s reject who was just "being all he could be"...a nation that cannot defend its borders from drugs, illegals or attack...a nation that has its jails filled to the brim and twists the minds and souls of its youth with heroes of sports arena and heroines of stage and screen...poisons their brains and bodies with mercury, fluoride, excitotoxins, HFCS and the like...''''medicates'''' them with anti-psychotics that promote self-destruction and psychopathological violence...such a nation reaps what it sows...it has shown itself to be careless, arrogant, ignorant, perverse and murderous...I will not disarm in the face of modern murderous America--"
Don''t hold back. Tell us how much you really hate America. It is people like you with such drastic views that society needs to fear. You are one step away from becoming like the shooter in Omaha because you beleive everyting is ''***'' already.
Another senseless tragedy propagated by our narcissistic teens that have never experienced accountability; a depressing trend that demands change and real parenting skills.
Last year my daughter was murdered by a coward like him.
Drew Crecente
Director, Jennifer Ann''s Group
www.JenniferAnn.org
Posted by dredre2k
That way only criminals will have the guns. That makes me feek sooo much safer.
Along with making every survivor re-live the event every time they walk outside, with cameras and micrphones shoved into their faces.
"Too many guns have been manufactured and sold in this country and most are used in violent crime.
I believe that the right to bear arms should be revoked, frankly."
Tens of MILLIONS, if not hundreds of MILLIONS of firearms hae been manufactured in this country. Most ARE NOT BEING USED FOR VIOLENT CRIMES! Stop spouting nonsense.
If guns are outlawed, what will the police and military use?
what an ignorant selfish punk that didnt even deserve to die so easy
"GUN CONTROL - then this idiot couldn''''t get a gun. And the NRA is trying to get rid of a ban on guns in Delaware and Washington, D.C. Everyone will be shooting each other...enough with playing cowboy!"
Criminal already bypass the law to get guns. Gun control WILL NOT stop criminals from getting guns.
If anyone needed to be able to protect themselves, the residents of DC are high on the list. That is one of the most crime-infested areas of the country.
Being a cowboy has been an honorable profession, why are you slamming them? Why don''t you say something like ''stop playing ghetto thug''?
It''s to the point that being a conscientious hardworking AVERAGE American isn%u2019t enough to get on your feet anymore. Heaven forbid you have a problem or two - If you do, you are going nowhere. you will have to remain a child depending on Mom and Dad for your food, shelter and the cloths on your back - Wait a minute, Mom and Dad threw this one to the curb!
God Bless the family who tried to help this kid who tried but failed to become a man.
I think what this kid was really saying is: %u201CWhen you got nothin, you got nothin to loose.%u201D
What a dog eat dog time and place we live in.
1. The woman that he is staying with was only afraid that he would commit suicide.
2. He obtained a rifle and showed it to her.
3. She did nothing.
4. She feels so little responsibility that she is busy granting interviews.
Who else has serious problems with this?
I do. We need to teach in our high schools how to identify possible mental illness and how to encourage people to get help.
The media needs to agree to not post pics and names of the perps in these cases.
Part of what you say is true about the kinds of things going on in our society here in America. These are the kinds of people the liberal world views negatively effect the most. They have no direction, no morals, and are totally lost. This guy saw no hope and there was no intervention anywhere. (Maruca-Kovac saw no red flags when she saw he had a gun) It''s just a shame that many lives were taken because this guy turned out to be one who couldn''t function mentally to withstand how twisted our people have become. This is why so many people around the world hate America. I believe it is the extreme left and what they stand for that they hate most about us. Let me assure people of other countries that there are many here who don''t like it either. We have to fight it at every turn. America''s destruction comes from within.
Posted by gunshack1
To many people want to be politically correct. Don''t correct another person, that could damage their self-image and cause them to feel sad. If you see a toddler walking down the highway, you would stop and get him, even if he wasn''t yours, wouldn''t you? Wait nope, that happen here where I live, and 20 cars passed before someone with sense actually stopped. Americans need to stop pussyfooting around, and stand up.
I must have stepped on some big toes with you, mate. You''re a big sports fan, I take it?...Enjoy your mercury and the rest of the wonderful chemicals I noted? Think its normal for a country to have so many in jail? Think our education is just dandy...Did your kiddies pass the "put the condum on the banana" test? Little gold stars for that...while their reading and math scores rank them behind twenty-plus other nations...where mindless ego-driven lard-arses are the exception not the rule. Go back to your celebration of a Game Boy, Pepsi Generation gangsta'' rap, Kultur of mental dysfunction...
Yes, 10''s of millions of guns have been manufactured and sold to the population, you are correct. Far too many have been used in crimes to kill the innocent. Any nut can go to a gun show in some states and buy a weapon... or can steal one... whatever, guns have become so pervasive people arm themselves out of fear.
Furthermore, guns should only be outlawed for the population ... not the military or the police.
Anyways, that''s my opinion and I won''t call your opinion nonsense. You do have a right to disagree.
Anyways, that''''s my opinion and I won''''t call your opinion nonsense. You do have a right to disagree.
Posted by dredre2k
Don''t punish the majority for the minorities crimes.
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Interesting, if self-promoting. What is your point? Were you pro or con for gun control? I''m in favor of gun control - as long as they get the guns out of the hands of the criminal element and as long as I get to keep mine.
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