美国19岁枪手为出名 血洗内布拉斯加州购物中心
倍可亲(backchina.com)当地时间12月5日下午2点左右，19岁的霍金斯(Robert Hawkins)手持步枪站在购物中心三楼阳台，开始向楼下的购物者开枪，当场打死8人打伤5人，然后开枪自尽。
枪击事件发生在内布拉斯加州奥马哈市西路购物中心(Westroads Mall)。当天，美国总统布什正在奥哈马市参加一个筹款会，不过他在枪击案发生前的几个小时离开奥哈马。
西路购物中心位于奥马哈市的西部，附近是中产阶层居住区。枪击案发生时，29岁的克里妮(Kevin Kleine)正带着她4岁的女儿购物。“我当时两腿发抖，惊惶失措不知怎么办，所以就跟着人群跑。”克里妮回忆说，最后她带着女儿躲进一个更衣间，里面还有4名购物者和1名雇员。
枪击事件发生在西路购物中心的Von Maur店的三楼阳台上。目击者描述说，枪击案发生时购物中心一片混乱，许多购物者从Von Maur店中跑出来。一名目击者说，“当时被眼前发生的一切吓坏了，简直难以想象，我当时只希望上帝保佑我们。”
逃离枪击现场的购物者
枪击事件发生后不久，警方迅速封锁了现场。一名目击者说，当购物者从购物中心大门逃到外面时，不得不举起双手，以便证明自己不是枪手。另一名在购物中心工作的目击者对CNN说，当时她正准备返回商店工作，忽然听到一阵枪声，声音就象有人在放鞭炮一样，“我当时不管那么多了，夺路而逃。”
目击者克莱默(Jennifer Cramer)说，“我们听到30或40声枪响，在我们往外逃跑时，我们看到有些人在电动扶梯上倒下了，还有人在流血。”一家商店的雇员塔图恩 (Charissa Tatoon)描述说，“我们一开始听到3声巨响，随后就从三楼阳台上传出一阵枪声，大约有20声或25声。”塔图恩说，她看到一个男子在三楼上向二楼开枪，至少有4人或5人倒下。
购物中心的工作人员说，现在还不知道这名枪手在开枪时是否说了什么，目前整个购物中心已成为枪击案现场，警方正在进行调查。警方负责人说，7人死于枪击案现场，另外2人在被送往附近一所医院时死亡。另有5人受伤，其中3人伤势严重。
警方封锁现场
美国有线新闻网和美联社报导说，据警方负责人透露，枪手持有一把自动步枪，绝大多数受伤和死者都是在Von Maur店内。警方仍在确认死者的身份，并开始寻找枪手驾驶的汽车。
一名当地执法官员透露说，枪手是19岁的霍金斯。案发后，霍金斯的房东在他的住处发现了一个字条，上面写着他这样做是想“出名”。警方负责人说，警方确信此案是霍金斯一个所为，没有其中涉案者。警方在Von Maur店内发现了霍金斯的尸体，被他枪杀的人分别在二楼和三楼。
媒体指出，虽然警方还没有给出霍金斯的作案动机，但据了解霍金斯的人透露，一年前在被家里赶出来后，霍金斯住在一位名叫马鲁卡(Debora Maruca)的朋友家中。马鲁卡说，在霍金斯刚来她家时，他非常内向。后来，马鲁卡在霍金斯的房间发现了一张自杀字条，上面写着他将不会再成为马鲁卡家的负担，“现在我将会出名”。
警方封锁现场
马鲁卡在接受CNN采访时介绍说，她看了霍金斯留下的字条，大概意思是：他非常抱歉，他爱所有的朋友，爱他的父母，他不想再成为别人的负担，他想结束这一切，他将会出名。马鲁卡说，霍金斯当天上午11点左右离开家中，但她没有看到他有枪。
霍金斯是个麻烦不断的青年。马鲁卡说，本周，一直在西路购物中心的麦当劳店工作的霍金斯被炒了。与他交往一段时间的女朋友，近来也跟他断绝了关系。
奥马哈当地媒体报导说，枪手留着士兵头型，背着一个黑色背包，身穿伪装服。警方负责人说，枪击事件刚一发生时，有人就从西路购物中心拨打911，当时能够听到枪声。6分钟后，警察赶到案发现场。这时，枪击案已经结束。
当地时间晚7点，警方调查人员在购物中心停车场内的一台切诺基吉普车进行检查。据信这台车是霍金斯的。
图为霍金斯档案照
最新消息说，霍金斯有忧郁症病史，但在一年前搬到朋友家以后，他的病情有所好转。不过，两周前与女朋友分手，加上本周又被麦当劳店炒了，可能对他打击很大。
在被家里赶出来后，霍金斯一直与马鲁卡家人生活在一起。马鲁卡在接受媒体采访时说，“他非常忧郁，他一直非常忧郁，但他看起来已经好多了。”在搬到马鲁卡家后，霍金斯考了驾照，并开始在购物中心的麦当劳店打工。购物中心麦当劳店的两名员工说，店里已要求他们不要对外谈论霍金斯被炒一事。
马鲁卡介绍说，虽然霍金斯没有接受过精神病治疗，但他过去曾治疗过忧郁症。尽管霍金斯的麻烦不断，但马鲁卡说，他是温和的，喜欢动物。据悉，霍金斯还有酗酒历史，有时还在自己的房间抽大麻。马鲁卡说，霍金斯喜欢听音乐，玩一些“正常孩子都喜欢玩的”电子游戏。
在霍金斯留下自杀字条的最上面，还写着他的“遗愿”：他的绿色切诺基吉普车归他的母亲，所留下的东西“我的朋友想要什么尽管拿”。
霍金斯在字条最后写道：“现在，我将会出名了。”
CNN: Mall shooter's suicide note: Now I'll be famous
OMAHA, Nebraska (CNN) -- A 19-year-old gunman who police said killed eight people and then himself at a Nebraska mall left a suicide note predicting the shootings would make him famous, his landlord said.
Five other people were injured, and two of them were in critical condition, hospital officials said.
The shootings inside the Von Maur department store at the popular Westroads Mall in Omaha sent panicked holiday shoppers fleeing for cover.
"It was just so loud, and then it was silence," said witness Jennifer Kramer, who hid behind a clothing rack. "I was scared to death he'd be walking around looking for someone else."
Police identified the gunman as Robert A. Hawkins of Bellvue, Nebraska.
Chief Thomas Warren of the Omaha Police Department called the shooting "premeditated," but said it "appears to be very random and without provocation."
Debora Maruca Kovac, Hawkins' landlord, said she found the suicide note after getting a phone call from Hawkins about 1 p.m., just minutes before the shootings. Video Watch landlord describe phone call from shooter ?
"He basically said how sorry he was for everything," Maruca Kovac said of the note. "He didn't want to be a burden to people and that he was a piece of s--- all of his life and that now he'd be famous."
She said Hawkins was a friend of her sons and "reminded me of a lost puppy that nobody wanted." He came to live with her about a year and a half ago, telling her he could not stay with his own family because of "some issues with his stepmother."
She described Hawkins as well-behaved, although "he had a lot of emotional problems, obviously."
Maruca Kovac told the Omaha World-Herald that Hawkins showed her an SKS semiautomatic Russian military rifle the night before the rampage, but she wasn't alarmed.
The shootings began about 1:42 p.m. (2:42 p.m. ET).
Seven people were found dead at the scene by officers who arrived six minutes later; two others, a male and a female, died after being transported to Creighton University Medical Center, said Fire Chief Robert Dahlquist.
A Creighton spokeswoman said a second female underwent surgery and was in critical condition Wednesday afternoon.
Three other people were taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
One, a 61-year-old man who sustained a chest wound after being shot in the armpit, had surgery and remained in critical condition in the intensive care unit Wednesday night, said hospital spokeswoman Maggie O'Brien.
The other two -- a 34-year-old man who was shot in the arm, and a 55-year-old man who fell and struck a clothing rack as he was trying to escape -- were treated and released, she said.
Warren said Hawkins was armed with an SKS assault rifle. His body, and the weapon, were found on the store's third floor, he said.
Maruca Kovac told CNN that Hawkins left the house Wednesday about 11 a.m., and called the house about two hours later, sounding upset.
"He just said he wanted to thank me for everything I'd done for him ... and he was sorry," Maruca Kovac said. He told her he had gotten fired from his job at a McDonald's restaurant, she said.
"I said, 'Come home and we'll talk about it,' " she recounted. "He said, 'It's too late.' He said he'd left a note explaining everything."
Kramer told CNN she heard at least 25 shots. Video Watch witnesses describe the ordeal ?
"I looked at my mom and said, 'We need to get out of here. Those are gunshots,' " Kramer said. "I just grabbed my mom and we ran to the back of the men's department and hid in some pants racks."
"He just kept firing," she said. She said she called 911 on her cell phone, whispering into it out of fear of being heard. A dispatcher told her other calls had been received and help was on the way, but she said it seemed to take "a long time" for them to arrive.
She said as she was being escorted out by police, she saw a man lying injured by the escalator where she had been previously.
Mall employee Charissa Tatoon said a man by an escalator near her was heard saying he was calling 911. See a map of where the shooting took place ?
"Immediately after that, the shooter shot down from the third floor and shot him on the second floor," she said.
"All of us were slightly confused because we didn't know what it was," Tatoon said. "Immediately after that, there was a series of maybe 20 to 25 more shots up on the third floor."
Warren, the police chief, said the victims included five females and three males, not including Hawkins. The shooting appeared to be contained in the Von Maur store, he said.
"We believe there was one shooter, and one shooter only," he said. Video Watch police talk about the shooting ?
Maruca Kovac said Hawkins' mental state seemed to be improving but he had been through a rough patch recently.
"When he first came to live with us, he was in the fetal position and chewed his fingernails all the time," she said. But she said she thought he was improving, as he had gotten a job, a haircut and a girlfriend.
However, she said Hawkins and his girlfriend had broken up in the last couple of weeks, and he had taken it hard. Then he got fired from McDonald's on Wednesday.
She said late Wednesday that authorities were searching her house for evidence.
"My kids are devastated," she said. "We're all in shock."
A school district spokeswoman said he attended Papillion-La Vista High School until he withdrew in March 2006. The World-Herald said he later earned his GED.
President Bush had visited Omaha on Wednesday before the shooting.
"The president is deeply saddened by the shootings in Omaha," White House press secretary Dana Perino said. "His thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families."
The shooting was at least the fourth at a mall or shopping center so far this year, following incidents in Salt Lake City, Utah; Kansas City, Missouri; and Douglasville, Georgia.
