The shocking shooting rampage in a shopping mall in Omaha, Neb. on Wednesday "deeply saddened" U.S. President George W. Bush, and details of the tragic incident were revealed on Thursday.
"The president is deeply saddened by the shootings in Omaha," White House press secretary Dana Perino said Thursday. "His thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families," she said.
President Bush had visited Omaha on Wednesday before the shooting.
The police revealed on Thursday more details of the shooting rampage, in which a young man shot dead 8 people before killing himself.
Thomas Warren, Omaha's police chief, told reporters that Robert A. Hawkins, 19, of Bellevue, Neb., came into the store and looked around before leaving and returning with an assault rifle to open fire.
Mall security officers noticed Hawkins briefly enter the Von Maur department store at Omaha's Westroads Mall earlier Wednesday, he said.
Hawkins left the store and returned six minutes later concealing something -- presumably the AK-47 assault rifle used in the rampage -- under a hooded sweatshirt, Warren said.
The young man then turned right, took an elevator to the third floor and immediately started shooting in the store's customer service area.
Six store employees and two customers were fatally wounded before Hawkins turned the gun on himself.
The five women and three men who died ranged in age from 24 to 66, he said.
Five other people were injured, and two of them were in critical condition, hospital officials said.
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman ordered that flags throughout the state be lowered to half-staff through Sunday.
The mall was expected to remain closed at least through Thursday.
Jim Von Maur, who owns the department store where the shooting occurred, said grief counseling would be provided for employees and their families.
Warren said Hawkins apparently chose his victims randomly and spoke little or not at all while firing about 30 rounds.
Hawkins lived with a friend's family. The mother, Debra Maruca Kovac, said she found a suicide note after getting a phone call from Hawkins about 1 p.m., just minutes before the shootings.
"He basically said how sorry he was for everything," Kovac said of the note.
"He didn't want to be a burden to people and that he was a piece of shit --- all of his life and that now he'd be famous," she said.
CNN said U.S. army recruiters turned Hawkins down last summer when he tried to enlist.
Two recruiters said Hawkins seemed like an average teenager who said he wanted to leave Omaha and take his life in a different direction.
"He said he'd had a rough time in his life and wanted to see about changing it," said Army Sgt. Edward Dust.
Source: Xinhua
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