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Mall Killer Had History of Mental Woes
19-Year-Old Threatened Stepmother and Was Made a Ward of the State
By Kari Lydersen and William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, December 7, 2007; Page A10
OMAHA, Dec. 6 -- A troubled teenager who opened fire on holiday shoppers and employees in a crowded mall had a history of mental health problems and had been a ward of the state in Nebraska for four years after threatening the life of his stepmother, authorities said Thursday.
Armed with an AK-47 assault rifle and dressed in black, Robert A. Hawkins, 19, turned the Westroads Mall into a scene of carnage and terror Wednesday, gunning down victims at random, police said. He killed eight people and wounded five others, two of them critically, before turning the weapon on himself.
Hawkins, a high school dropout who had recently lost his job at a fast-food restaurant and broken up with his girlfriend, attracted the attention of mall security guards when he initially entered the mall briefly and then returned carrying something wrapped in a hooded sweatshirt, Omaha Police Chief Thomas Warren told reporters.
But Hawkins took an elevator to the third floor and began shooting before the unarmed security guards could intervene, Warren said, and the rampage was over by the time police arrived about six minutes later. He said Hawkins fired more than 30 rounds from the AK-47, which police believe he stole from his stepfather's residence.
Among the dead were five women and three men between the ages of 24 and 66. Two were shoppers, and six were employees of Von Maur, a department store popular with holiday shoppers. Of the five people injured, three were treated and released, and two remained hospitalized Thursday in critical condition, authorities said.
One man was apparently trying to call 911 near an escalator in an atrium on the mall's second floor when Hawkins aimed his weapon over a railing and shot him in the head from the third floor, witnesses said. The other victims were shot on the store's third floor.
"It appeared that the shooting victims were randomly selected," Warren said. "It didn't appear that any were specifically targeted."
In a news conference in Lincoln, officials of Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services said Hawkins had been a ward of the state from 2002 to 2006 after spending time in a private mental health and substance abuse treatment facility for threatening the life of his stepmother. They also cited drug-related offenses and a fight with another youth. Hawkins's parents divorced when he was 3 years old.
As recently as two weeks ago, Hawkins also had threatened to kill a 16-year-old girl and her family after accusing her of stealing things from his car, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
The director of the health department's Division of Children and Family Services, Todd Landry, said Hawkins initially was placed in the private Piney Ridge Center in Waynesville, Mo., in May 2002 "due to homicidal threats toward his stepmother." He was diagnosed at the time with attention-deficit disorder and mental health disorders, including one that made him extremely defiant, Landry said.
The state intervened after the family's health-care program refused to continue paying for Hawkins's treatment at Piney Ridge, Landry said. But the health department terminated its care in August 2006 after Hawkins failed to comply with a community service requirement and a court declared him "nonamenable to further services," he said.
Landry said the department acted properly in closing Hawkins's case, which did not represent "a failure of the system to provide . . . appropriate services." He said he did not think the state could have done anything more and that "all appropriate services were provided when needed for as long as needed." He added: "It would be nice to have had a crystal ball. . . . Certainly, if we had known this was going to happen . . . we would have stopped it."
Hawkins left a suicide note in which he denigrated himself and said he would no longer be a burden to anyone, adding ominously that he was "going to be famous now."
Omaha police said Thursday that they are investigating that note as well as other "correspondence," such as cellphone text messages between Hawkins and his former girlfriend and records on his computer hard drive, that might illuminate his motives and planning.
In television interviews, Debora Maruca-Kovac, a nurse whose family took Hawkins in a year ago, likened the troubled teenager to "a lost pound puppy that nobody wanted." She said Hawkins had called her before the shooting to thank her and tell her about the note he had left.
He said he was "sorry he was a burden to everybody and his whole life was a piece of [expletive] and now he'll be famous," Maruca-Kovac told CBS's "Early Show." She said she feared he was going to commit suicide, "but I had no idea that he would involve so many other families."
Branigin reported from Washington. Staff writer Jenna Johnson contributed to this report.
美失恋青年商场扫射9死
(明报) 12月 07日 星期五 05:05AM
【明报专讯】
美国内布拉斯加州东部城市奥马哈（Omaha）一个商场周三发生枪击案，正当大批顾客在商场选购圣诞礼物时，一名最近失恋和失业的19岁青年枪手突然闯入乱枪扫射，击毙8人和枪伤5人后吞枪自杀。他在遗书中表示，想要一举成名。
19岁的霍金斯（Robert A. Hawkins）周三下午走进Von Maur商场3楼。由于正值圣诞购物旺季，商场内有不少顾客正选购礼品。
顾客购圣诞礼物慌忙逃生
据目击者描述，霍金斯身穿绿色迷彩背心，手持半自动步枪，站在商场第3层连开数枪。顾客及工作人员初时听到枪声时都不以为意，还以为是附近工地射钉枪发出的声音。但其后传出数十下枪声，有人惊呼商场内有枪手，众人才争相逃离现场；由于子弹横飞时，部分人走进更衣间或储物室暂避，直至警方抵达后才离开。
目击者表示，枪手在3楼射中楼下一名男子头部后，便向3楼顾客近距离开枪，当中包括不少正在顾客服务部等待包装礼物的顾客。有警员透露，枪手可能将两个弹夹贴在一块，令他可以迅速连续发射30发子弹。
连轰30枪杀人后吞枪自杀
警方在下午1时42分收到商场内人士报警，话筒中仍传来枪声。警方6分钟后抵达现场时，枪声已静止。警方封锁现场后，商场内的顾客高举双手走出商场。不少人都惊魂未定聚集在商场门口，部分人低声哭泣、浑身颤抖。
大部分死伤者都是在3楼的顾客服务部附近遇害。警员首先在商场2楼发现一名死者，其后在3楼发现更多死伤者。奥马哈警长沃伦表示，死者包括5女3男和疑凶自己，但没说当中有没有儿童。
暂时未知道凶手行凶动机，亦不知道他开枪时有否说话。奥马哈警长沃伦说：“（行凶）动机只能靠猜测，有可能无法解释。”
肇事商场楼高3层，内设商店和餐馆超过135家，每年接待顾客约1450万人次。事发当日，美国总统布殊 正在奥马哈展开筹款活动，但在枪击发生前1小时离开。白宫发表声明，指布殊对枪击惨剧“深切哀恸”，又指他相信“奥马哈市民能互相安慰”。事发的商场邻近股神巴菲特旗下的Borsheim珠宝店，而巴菲特本身也是住在奥马哈市。
美国今年发生多宗枪击案，最为轰动的是今年4月，韩裔学生赵承熙 在弗吉尼亚州理工大学 乱枪扫射，造成32人死亡。得克萨斯州一家商场上月亦发生枪击案，导致两人死亡。
路透社/华盛顿 邮报
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发表于 2007-12-7 22:20
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