Omaha Mall shooting: Nine dead (UPDATE)

By M&C US News Dec 6, 2007, 1:30 GMT

Families of the victims of a shooting at the Von Maur department store gather at a nearby Hampton Inn after a gunman reportedly shot and killed nine people, including himself, at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska, USA, on 05 December 2007. The attack made holiday shoppers run screaming through the mall and barricade themselves in dressing rooms. EPA/ALYSSA SCHUKAR

CNN reports that a 19-year-old man opened fire with a rifle inside a mall crowded with Christmas shoppers in Omaha, Nebraska, on Wednesday, killing eight people and then himself, according to police.

Five people were wounded in the rampage at the Westroads Mall, two of them critically, according to hospital spokesmen.

Police said the mother of the gunman brought them a note that was "suicidal" in nature. KETV, a local television station, identified the man as Robert Hawkins.

CNN spoke to several witnesses who said they hid in dressing rooms, bathrooms, closets and under racks of clothes, some praying as an estimated two dozen shots rang through the mall.

The gunman shot one man in the head from a third-floor balcony and others at point-blank range, witnesses said.

Some of the victims were waiting in line to get Christmas presents wrapped at Von Maur, a three leve store where the body of the gunman was found.

KETV said Hawkins had been arrested in the past month on minor charges, including having an open container of alcohol and delinquency. It said he was from Bellevue, Nebraska, but was living in Quail Creek, near Omaha.

One man who described himself as a friend of Hawkins told KETV he had moved from one low-wage job to another and was taking prescription medication for depression, as well as "doing other stuff he shouldn't have been doing."

Most of the victims in Omaha were shot inside the Von Maur department store and the motive for the rampage was still being investigated, said Sgt. Teresa Negron of the midwestern city's police department.

Negron said the gunman appeared to have died from a self-inflicted wound.

"It's hard to believe it would happen here," said Jennifer Bettger, 41, who had been shopping in the mall but left shortly before the shooting.

One woman told KETV the gunman waas firing into the air inside the department store.

"I saw the guy in the children's department. He was tall, real tall," she said. "He had his hand straight up in the air, just shooting, not saying anything."

President George W. Bush visited Omaha on Wednesday morning but had left the city hours before the incident, he was "deeply saddened by the shootings."

"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 as they deal with this terrible tragedy," the White House said in a statement.