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The following comments are from an actual witness to the Omaha shooting, and a Police Officer who responded. Other than minor edits for spelling and clarity, we have not altered their comments, since, though somewhat disjointed, they convey the surreal and disorienting reality of being involved in a public shooting rampage.

(2007-12-07) — When 19-year-old Robert Hawkins entered the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska, carrying an AK-47 assault rifle wrapped in a sweater, he intended to become famous by shooting as many people as possible and then turning the gun on himself.The mentally-troubled teen left a suicide note, and a trail of evidence on his computer and elsewhere that he knew the police would spend months investigating. He had done everything possible to ensure that his name would be mentioned along with other mass killers at Virginia Tech, Columbine High School and the like.He knew that the Westroads Mall was a...

OMAHA, Neb. - The teenage gunman who went on a shooting rampage in a department store may have smuggled an assault rifle into the mall underneath clothing, police said Thursday. Police Chief Thomas Warren said the young man "appeared to be concealing something balled up in a hooded sweat shirt" he was carrying, according to a surveillance video. The teen entered the store Wednesday using an elevator, and moments later, gunfire pierced through the notes of Christmas music at the Westroads Mall's Von Maur department store. People huddled in dressing rooms and barricaded themselves in offices as 19-year-old Robert A....

As some of you know, I am from Omaha. Just my opinion, for what it’s worth, but I’m watching the reports on TV and Radio, both locally (here in Omaha) and nationally and I’m getting ticked off .. I have to speak out. I've been listening to people who knew this kid, on a local radio station, talking about threats he has made. There was one classmate who claims he threatened to kill her and burn down her house. Then there are the friends from his clique who are defending him. One even supposedly threatened to kill another student who...

OMAHA, Neb., Dec 5 (Reuters) - A 19-year-old man killed eight people and then himself with an assault rifle at a busy mall in Omaha on Wednesday, sending terrified workers and Christmas shoppers scrambling for cover. "Now I will be famous," the gunman wrote in a suicide note, his landlady told CNN after finding a three-part document that she said included his will. Police declined to discuss the contents of the note. Five people were wounded, two of them critically, in the early afternoon rampage in the Midwestern U.S. city. Most of the victims at the upscale Westroads Mall were...

OMAHA, Neb. -- The shooter at Westroads Mall was identified as Robert A. Hawkins of Bellevue, according to the Sarpy County Sheriff's Department, and a suicide note said he was going to be famous. 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 of alcohol. He was arrested on Nov. 24. He was due in court for an arraignment on Dec. 19. Sarpy County deputies said they are getting a warrant to search Hawkins' home in the Quail Creek neighborhood in Bellevue. The woman...

Omaha, NE - Nine people are confirmed dead following the shooting at Westroads Mall this afternoon. Action 3 News has learned at least 5 other people were hurt. Two are in critical condition at area hospitals. 34-year-old Omaha attorney, Jeff Schaffert was shot in the arm. He is in fair condition at the Nebraska Medical Center. A 55-year-old man has already been released from the hospital. Police believe one of the dead is the shooter. Sergeant Teresa Negron says he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police are asking everyone to stay away from the area. The neighborhoods around the...

Have not seen this posted. At least 5 shot, possibly 2 dead at Westroads Mall in Omaha, NE in past 2 hours. My office has view of mall. It has been a scene, MANY police cars, helicopter, ambulances. Pray for the victims and their loves ones

An elderly man was found near an escalator in the store, and police said a young black man was being sought as the suspected shooter. Early indications were that as many as five people may be 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. Dozens of police and sheriff's cars...

Calculating the Risks in Pakistan A small group of U.S. military experts and intelligence officials convened in Washington for a classified war game last year, exploring strategies for securing Pakistan's nuclear arsenal if the country's political institutions and military safeguards began to fall apart. The secret exercise — conducted without official sponsorship from any government agency, apparently due to the sensitivity of its subject — was one of several such games the U.S. government has conducted in recent years examining various options and scenarios for Pakistan's nuclear weapons: How many troops might be required for a military intervention in...

<p>Greensport Mall, Houston. Being reported on Fox News right now.</p>

An FBI report warned al Qaeda may be planning to strike shopping malls in Chicago and Los Angeles during the Christmas season, but a bureau official said on Thursday there was no information it was a credible threat. ABC News first disclosed portions of the report that was based on intelligence received by the FBI in late September. The report said al Qaeda hoped to disrupt the U.S. economy and had been planning the attack for the past two years. The document, called an intelligence information report, was intended for law enforcement and the intelligence community, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko...

U.S. to Offer Turkey Help on PKK The U.S. is to offer Turkey a package of measures to dissuade Ankara from mounting a large-scale military incursion into Iraq to attack PKK Kurdish guerrillas, who have killed scores of Turkish soldiers in recent weeks. Ahead of a meeting in Washington on Monday between President George W. Bush and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, U.S. officials said Ankara would have to get concrete American help to combat the PKK, which has bases in northern Iraq from where it frequently launches attacks into Turkey. “Erdogan has to go back with the...

AN explosion apparently caused by a fuel tank ripped through an upmarket shopping mall in the main Philippine financial district of Makati in the capital Manila today. Panicked shoppers ran out of the Glorietta mall as smoke billowed out of the building and police rushed in to investigate, witnesses said. "Our initial report is that it was an accidental explosion of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). We are still trying to determine if there are any casualties,''.

HAYWARD -- Hayward police closed Southland Mall late Saturday afternoon after about 200 teenagers and young adults stormed the popular shopping center and began ransacking stores. The young people poured out of bleachers, set up in the parking lot outside Macy's, after a basketball game known as streetball ended. Police Lt. Mark Koller said clothes were pulled off hangers and advertising displays overturned. Employees and shoppers saw the intruders kick merchandise and mall kiosks as they made their way past Mervyn's and J.C. Penney stores. Thousands of shoppers left the mall by car and on foot as more than 60...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A Muslim man is demanding police take action after, he said, he was discriminated against at a local mall. Mustapha El Mahjahtti said he was at a store at the Prime Outlet Mall on I-Drive when a woman tried to cut him in line. He said he told the woman to go to the back of the line, but she allegedly physically attacked him and even called him a terrorist. Mahjahtti said security guards failed to help. Now he's working with the local Council on American-Islamic Relations to get action. "We are not criticizing the Orlando Police...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A Somali pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday to a charge involving a plot to blow up a central Ohio shopping mall. Nuradin Abdi agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to providing material support for terrorists, 10TV's Kevin Landers reported. He was indicted on four counts but only pleaded guilty to the conspiracy to provide material support charge, Landers reported. Abdi was scheduled to go on trial in federal court next week, 10TV reported. Abdi was accused of wanting to blow up a shopping mall. The target was never made public, 10TV News reported. Abdi's attorney...

CHRISTIANA, Del. - July 30, 2007 - A fight at a Delaware mall involving hundreds of young people is prompting new calls for a curfew today. The fight near the food court at the Christiana Mall forced the shopping center to shut down early. It was a mall brawl of epic proportions, and at the height of it police said a thousand kids were going at it in the food court Friday night. Things got so out of hand the Christina Mall closed early and shoppers left in fear. "An extremely large crowd started to gather and get disorderly. Eventually...

The mother accused of launching a brutal beat-down of a 16-year-old at the Natick Mall last week has a record that includes 26 prior guilty pleas for various crimes, prosecutors said yesterday. This time, Marilyn Camacho, 40, of Framingham faces charges of launching a hair-pulling and kicking attack on a teen at the mall along with her own 12-, 13- and 16-year-old daughters. Natick District Court Judge Andrew D’Angelo ordered Camacho held on $1,000 bail yesterday. She is already being held on $5,000 bail out of the Framingham Juvenile Court, where she is charged with contributing to the delinquency of...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A former Target employee who was turned down for a private security license and planned to "cause havoc" was identified Monday as the man who killed two people in a crowded mall parking lot before he was shot by police.

KANSAS CITY, MO. -- At least three people are dead after a gunman fired shots in Ward Parkway Mall at 86th and Ward Parkway in Kansas City, Mo. around 3:30 p.m. on Sunday. Two citizens and the gunman are among the dead. According to KCMO Police, the two dead citizens were shot in the parking lot of the mall, and the gunman died inside the mall. There are other reports of two more wounded at the shopping center, and an officer who was shot at a gas station and another dead body on E 93rd Street in KCMO. [...]

Just happening at Ward parkway mall

San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Facts have emerged in this case which prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Bosnian Muslim immigrant's rampage at a Utah shopping mall, killing five people is a textbook study of a jihadist attack. Just a day before the murders Talovic told his 17 year old Bosnian girlfriend Monika, with whom he had discussed marriage plans that he was involved in a dark plot. "Something is going to happen tomorrow that you'll never be able to forgive me about" Talovic's girlfriend told the Salt Lake Times adding that "It was supposed be the happiest...

March 7, 2007 — A former U.S. Navy sailor has been charged with allegedly passing military secrets about U.S. Navy movements through waters in the Middle East to al Qaeda-related Web sites during the spring of 2001, just months after the USS Cole was attacked in Yemen. Hassan Abujihaad, formerly known as Paul R. Hall, allegedly passed information about U.S. Navy warship movements in the Straits of Hormuz in April 2001 while he was a member of the Navy. The information passed along contained details about vulnerabilites of U.S. vessels — including susceptibility to small boat attacks by terrorists. Abujihaad...

WEST VALLEY CITY - Imam Shuaib-ud Din has been terminated from his position as religious leader of the Islamic Society of Greater Salt Lake amid allegations of domestic violence. Police said they responded to a "domestic-related incident" at Din's home a week ago, and the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office reported an attempt to serve a protective order against him on Thursday. Contacted by phone, a relative of the imam said he was in Chicago now but would not comment on the allegations. The relative acknowledged that Din and his wife were having marital problems but said the imam was...

If you only read the news as reported by the Main Stream Media, you would never know that we had just recently experienced another Jihad style attack by a Muslim on American soil. On Monday, Feb. 12th, one time Bosnian refugee Sulejmen Talovic (age 18) walked into the Trolley Valley shopping mall in Salt Lake City and in a six minute rampage killed five people and severely wounded several more. The dead were identified as Jeffrey Walker, 52, Vanessa Quinn, 29, Kirsten Hinkley, 15, Teresa Ellis, 29, and Brad Frantz, 24. My initial (blogged) reaction was: “Any guesses as to...

SOUTH JORDAN - Those speaking at Jeffrey Walker's funeral attempted to "pull a Jeff."     In other words, they wanted to match their friend's personality by keeping the ceremony lighthearted and compassionate.     Walker, 52, was one of five people gunned down Monday night at Trolley Square.     "Evil has touched us, but it will not leave its mark because Jeff's legacy is love, compassion, faith, hope, service, unconditional caring and love and love and love," said friend Tracy Mower as he addressed the more than 1,500 gathered at the Country Park LDS Stake Center Saturday.     Mower related the...

Family in Bosnia describes Utah gunman as child of war and upheavalALMIR ARNAUT, Associated Press Writer February 15, 2007 12:23 PM TALOVICI, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) - Relatives of the Bosnian teen who shot and killed five people in a Salt Lake City mall said the boy's early life was marked by war and upheaval: The family fled Serb forces on foot when he was 4 and his grandfather was killed in the war. Sulejman Talovic was a toddler when fighting broke out in Bosnia in 1992. Serb troops laid siege to the hamlet of Talovici in northeastern Bosnia, bombing it for...

Jaron Dansie was inside a Salt Lake City shopping mall when 18-year old Sulejmen Talovic entered the building, pulled a gun and started shooting people at random. As he took shelter inside one of the shops on the first floor, Dansie pulled out his video camera. “What the… What the hell's going on?” Dansie can be heard saying on the video, in between a barrage of loud gunshots. Dansie, a wedding videographer, said that turning his video camera on was not the first thing on his mind. But his actions led to an intense visual record of the tragic events...

[snip] Although he quit school at 16, Sulejman Talovic often attended Friday prayers at the Al-Noor mosque on 700 East in Salt Lake City,[ a block away from the mall] said Salih Omerovic, Ajka's cousin. Salih Omerovic said the young man stopped coming to the prayers in December, when he landed a full-time job at Aramark Uniform Services in South Salt Lake. He said Sulejman Talovic's father had pressured his son to get a job to help out with the family's living expenses. Imam Ali Mohamed, the spiritual leader at Al-Noor, said he does not know Talovic. "I know some...

COORDINATED BANGKOK BOMBS KILL 2; New Year's Eve Countdown cancelled(BangkokPost.com) At least six bombs or grenades have exploded in Bangkok early on New Year's Eve. Two people are reported to have been killed, about 25 have been wounded. Bangkok authorities ordered all public New Year's Eve parties cancelled. Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin appeared at the huge Bangkok Countdown 2006 venue and told the crowd to "go home and stay in peace." There had been confusion for an hour over whether New Year's parties would be permitted after the bombing. New Year's is the biggest public party in Thailand. The national...

Four explosives went off almost simultaneously in Bangkok, injuring at least 20 people as the city people have just started to celebrate the New Year's eve. One person was dead at the Big C supermarket, Sapan Kwai branch, where witness saw a man dropped a grenade from a pedestrian bridge, police said. At least 20 were injured at the Victory Monument when a powerful bomb went off near a bus station. At the Klong Toei area near the Na Ranong intersection, a bomb hidden in a trash can near a Chinese spirit shrine exploded and injured two bypassers. The explosion...

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS -- The sound of the crash echoed through the cavernous Altamonte Mall, startling Terry Maze. "I looked up and saw headlights," he said Tuesday morning, recalling the harrowing incident the evening before when a car drove into the mall's upper level and crashed onto the floor below. "It was like a movie." Had it been two minutes later, Maze said, he would have been right in the car's path. As it was, the mall was closed and a half-dozen other workers were walking toward the doors when the Mitsubishi Lancer came crashing through them. "They came running out,...

There has been suprisingly little reportage of the actual details of would-be shopping mall terrorist, Mr. Talib Abu Salam Ibn Shareef's mindset and intentions. So as a public service, here the FBI agent's affidavit (pdf file) in easy to read format. Talib Abu Salam Ibn Shareef STATE OF ILLINOIS)) COUNTY OF COOK)AFFIDAVIT1. I, Jared Ruddy, Federal Bureau of Investigation, being duly sworn, state as follows: I am a Special Agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) and have been so employed for more than two years. I am currently assigned to an FBI Counterterrorism squad as well as the...

As part of his preparations for a grenade attack on a Rockford,Ill. area shopping mall, Derrick Shareef-a Black Muslim - made a "martyrdom video".

<p>Dec. 8, 2006 — ABC News has learned a Chicago-area man has been charged with plotting a terrorist attack.</p> <p>Sources say the man is accused of planning to use firearms and explosives to attack a specific mall in Rockford, Ill. The alleged plan was to target this mall during the holiday shopping season.</p>

Four shot at Annapolis mall By RYAN BAGWELL and JOSHUA STEWART Staff Writers Secret Service agent wounded when he tries to stop fight. At least four people were shot at the crowded Annapolis mall last night, including an off-duty Secret Service agent who opened fire on a teen involved in a food court gunfight. At least six shots rang out just after 7:15 p.m. near the Cingular wireless store in the Westfield Annapolis mall, police and witnesses said, sending hordes of panicked shoppers running for cover. The gunfire erupted after a group of young men started fighting with another young...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11, 2006 -- They represented a cross-section of America -- thousands of men, women and children of all ages, races and backgrounds from every corner of the country -- and came together yesterday during the second annual America Supports You Freedom Walk here to pay tribute to those killed on Sept. 11, 2001. Two soldiers who understand firsthand the loss of Sept. 11, 2001, cross Memorial Bridge during the America Supports You Freedom Walk. Army Spc. Cindy Davis from Headquarters Company at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, lost two uncles, both firemen, in the World Trade Center....

Charges were dropped against a Sacramento-area youth pastor who was arrested while sharing his Christian faith one-on-one with shoppers at a mall. Matthew Snatchko, who regularly takes a small group of youth from his church to the Galleria Mall in Roseville, Calif., said he was interrupted by a security guard May 8 while in the middle of a conversation. Pointing out no one has ever complained of his activities at the mall, Snatchko told WND the guard demanded he leave because he was "walking around and talking to people." The pastor, 23, said he "kind of laughed," insisting he wasn't...

OKLAHOMA CITY - A young man shot and wounded a 15-year-old boy inside a south Oklahoma City mall Saturday, then was shot and killed by an off-duty sheriff's deputy, authorities said. The gunfire erupted at Crossroads Mall shortly after 6:30 p.m. local time. The wounded boy was taken to a nearby hospital in fair condition, according to ambulance company spokeswoman Lara O'Leary. The names of the alleged gunman and the victim were not immediately released. The age of the dead youth was not immediately known, but paramedics said he appeared to be about the same age as the wounded teen.

Crossville, Cumberland County (WVLT) – Police in Crossville are in a standoff with an escaped prison inmate from Louisiana in the Woodmere Mall in Crossville. According to police, a second escaped inmate, Joseph Oakes, 27, from Meridian Mississippi, was captured at the mall earlier this morning. Authorities tell Volunteer TV News the man still inside the mall is 18-year-old Terrance Williams of New Orleans. Recent police scanner traffic indicates possible shots fired inside the mall. Williams is serving time for second degree murder, while Oakes is convicted of armed robbery. Police believe the two are a part of a group...

IRONDEQUOIT, N.Y. (AP) - They're too loud. They hog the seats at the food court. Often they don't even buy anything. So now they're being kicked out of the mall. Teenagers? Try chess players. The new owners of the Medley Center have banned chess and card games, effectively removing a group that has been playing chess at the suburban Rochester mall for years. They can play only from 8 to 10 a.m., when the mall is open to walkers. "I really feel we've gotten jilted," 70-year-old retired salesman Ray Licata said in Thursday's Democrat and Chronicle. Mall owner Adam Bersin...

Mall Shooting Victim Pulled Weapon, Family Says POSTED: 10:37 am PST November 22, 2005 UPDATED: 2:12 pm PST November 22, 2005 TACOMA, Wash. -- The family of the most seriously wounded victim in the Tacoma Mall shooting says he pulled his own weapon and confronted the gunman. Brendan "Dan" McKown was shot Sunday before he could fire at Dominick Sergio Maldonado, family members said at a news conference Tuesday. Roger and Beverly McKown of Yelm said their son is a hero who likely saved other people at the mall by confronting the gunman.

Two separate reports, one from my Dad and one from a friend... both at Tacoma Mall. Not being allowed inside, due to "someone inside with a semiautomatic shooting in the mall". Large number of police on the scene, sealing the exits. Not letting anyone in or out. Will post a source as soon as I have one.

Brookdale Center was cleared and closed until about 4:15 Saturday afternoon after a disturbance there. Witnesses said a free concert at the mall turned chaotic when the crowd rushed the stage. No reports of injuries were available. People at the mall Saturday said they saw at least three people taken away on stretchers. The concert, by the boy band B5 was scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. The group went on stage in the Marshall Field's Court about 2 p.m., and fans quickly rushed the stage. The group had started its second song when the show was called off, witnesses...

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Game has been arrested, accused of causing a scene at a mall and refusing to remove a Halloween mask. "I got arrested for signing autographs," the 25-year-old rapper told WFMY-TV after he was released on $500 bail. "Signing a little girl's autograph got me arrested." But police said The Game, real name Jayceon Taylor, and a group of companions behaved disruptively and swearing Friday at Four Seasons Town Centre. He was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. At one point, police said, his companions were sprayed with pepper spray when they surrounded officers in a...

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- The Mall of America has a 74-foot Ferris wheel, a shark tank and a dinosaur museum. And now, if all that tires you out, a nap store will sell you some shuteye for 70 cents a minute. The new store will be called MinneNAPolis. It's just the thing for shoppers -- or their spouses -- who get worn out traversing the more than four miles of storefronts in the Minnesota mall. Founded by PowerNap Sleep Centers of Boca Raton, Fla., the new store will include at least three themed rooms: Asian Mist, Tropical Isle and Deep Space....

IF YOU WANT A VISION of hell, look here: the national mall in Washington, D.C., at noon on a summer's day. Mom and Dad and Buddy and Sis stand on the treeless expanse, baked by the pitiless sun, looking lost. Dad wears a muscle-beach T-shirt stretched over a Cheesecake Factory body, his hair matted in shiny ringlets round the crown of his head. Sweat begins to show at the waistband of Mom's stretch pants. The air is hung with scrims of haze. To one side the Capitol building shimmers in ghostly outline. To the other, the Lincoln Memorial looms in...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Somali immigrant accused of conspiring to help terrorists blow up a shopping mall is asking that his statements to investigators – including what he knew about a member of al-Qaeda – be barred from his trial. Attorney Mahir T. Sherif said Nuradin Abdi was arrested without grounds and pressured to answer investigators' questions. On June 1, he asked a federal judge to bar the statements, which are sealed. Agents told Abdi last November they were arresting him for violating immigration laws, but did not specify which laws and did not show him a warrant until three...

Sex Sting at Department Store April 22, 2005 — Philadelphia police carried out an undercover sex sting inside the Strawbridge's department store in Center City late Thursday. The 16 male suspects are between 21 and 80-years-old. They are charged with indecent exposure, open lewdness, and disorderly conduct. "That's just very rude to Strawbridge's and everything. That's just horrible." Police arrested the men after an undercover sting in the bathroom on the second floor. "Specifically the problem was prostitution and sex related acts in that bathroom, among male customers." The department store asked police to investigate when the problem became unbearable....