US Police (Archive photo)
Photo: AP, The Roanoke Times, Matt Gentry
US: 9 dead in Nebraska mall shooting
'I wanted to go out in style,' 20-year-old Robert Hawkins reportedly wrote in his suicide letter before killing eight people and himself in a busy Omaha shopping mall with a rifle
A man opened fire with a rifle at a busy department store in the United States on Wednesday, killing eight people before taking his own life in an attack that sent holiday shoppers running and screaming through an Omaha mall. Five more people were wounded, two critically.
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. Local media reported that the note said he wanted to ''go out in style.''
Previous Rampage
Associated Press
Gunman opens fire in Virginia Tech dormitory and then in classroom across campus two hours later Monday, killing 32 people in deadliest shooting rampage in US history. Gunman commits suicide, bringing death toll to 33
The official identified the gunman as 20-year-old Robert A. Hawkins.
Witnesses said the gunman fired down on shoppers from a third-floor balcony of the Von Maur store. One witness told a TV station that he shot up a teddy bear as he sprayed fire on shoppers.
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 an emergency 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.
The Omaha World-Herald reported that the gunman had a military-style haircut and a black backpack, and wore a camouflage vest.
President George W. Bush was in Omaha on Wednesday for a fundraiser, but left about an hour before the shooting.
''Having just visited with so many members of the community in Omaha today, the president is confident that they will pull together to comfort one another,'' White House press secretary Dana Perino said.
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 Bosnian-born Sulejman Talovic, was shot and killed by police.
