Westroads Mall shooting
| Westroads Mall shooting | |
|---|---|
Police cars cordoned in front of the Von Maur department store building.
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| Location | Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Date | December 5, 2007 1:43 p.m. – 1:49 p.m. CST (UTC-06:00) |
| Target | Von Maur customers in Westroads Mall |
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Attack type
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Mass murder, mass shooting, murder-suicide |
| Weapons | AKM 7.62×39mm semi-automatic rifle |
| Deaths | 9 (including the perpetrator) |
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Non-fatal injuries
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6 (4 from gunfire) |
| Perpetrator | Robert Arthur Hawkins |
| Robert A. Hawkins | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Robert Arthur Hawkins May 17, 1988 RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk, U.K. |
| Died | December 5, 2007 (aged 19) Omaha, Nebraska, United States |
| Cause of death | Suicide by gunshot wound to the head |
| Body discovered | Westroads Mall, Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Residence | Bellevue, Nebraska, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | General Educational Development (GED) |
The Westroads Mall shooting was a mass shooting that occurred on December 5, 2007, in a Von Maur department store at Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska. The gunman, nineteen-year-old Robert A. Hawkins, killed eight people and wounded four, two of them critically, before committing suicide. It was the deadliest mass murder in Nebraska since the rampage of Charles Starkweather in 1958.
An hour before the rampage, Hawkins' mother gave the Sarpy County Sheriff's Department his suicide note, which read: "I just want to take a few pieces of shit with me... just think tho, I'm gonna be fuckin famous [sic]."
Unarmed at first, Hawkins entered the south entrance of the Von Maur department store at about 1:36 p.m. CST (19:36 UTC). After walking a short distance into the store, he scanned the area, turned around and left. Returning six minutes later through the same entrance, he proceeded directly to the elevator at his immediate right, this time with a Century WASR-10 (a commercial copy of the AKM (7.62×39mm) semi-automatic rifle) stolen from his stepfather's house, along with two 30-round magazines taped together, concealed in a sweatshirt. He took the elevator to the top floor.
At approximately 1:43 p.m. CST (19:43 UTC), Hawkins stepped out of the elevator on the third floor and opened fire. He killed eight people and wounded four others over the course of six minutes, before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head near the customer service desk. He fired more than 30 rounds, striking 12 people. Six were killed instantly, one died before reaching the hospital, and another died 45 minutes after reaching the ER of another hospital.
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Wikipedia