Robbie Hawkins/Westroad mall shooting
On december 5, 2007 Robert Arthur Hawkins shot at killed 8 individuals, injured 5, and shot and killed himself at the Westroad mall in Omaha Nebraska.
Robert Arthur Hawkins was born on May 17,1988 in Suffolk, England to two American Military personnel, although the two were not in a loving marriage.
From a young age Robbie was Hospitalized for his behavior. The first time he was hospitalized at the age of four after outburst at this preschool, he was diagnosed with ADD and PTSD.
According to his mother, robert was sexually assaulted by his father at a young age and his mother endured abuse from his father as well
unfortunately i cant go into detail due to how graphic the situation was but this is an article that describes it well
Robbie’s parents divorced when he was 3, this likely was a factor for his poor mental health
The second hospitalization, which occurred at the age of 14 when he attempted to kill his stepmother, resulted in him being diagnosed with an unspecified mood disorder and ODD (oppositional defiant disorder). ODD is defined as persistent pattern of hostile, uncooperative, and defiant behavior to parents, teachers, etc. This hospitalization resulted in Robbie being sent to a psychiatric hospital for 4 years with his father having to give him up to the state for him to get psychological treatment. His stay at the hospital only ended due to him not wanting to get better.
After his hospitalization he was expelled from Fort Calhoun high school in 2005 due to him selling drugs. He later attended Papillion-La Vista Senior High School but he dropped out and got his GED.
Robbie once tried to join the military but was rejected due to mental health reasons
After dropping out, he left his mothers house and he went to go live with a friend and their family, which included Debora Maruca-Kovac who later did interviews about robbie.
"When he first came in the house, he was introverted, a troubled young man who was like a lost pound puppy that nobody wanted,"
Debora stated in an interview that the night before the shooting, robbie showed her a SKS semi automatic Russian military assault rifle, yet she thought nothing of it since “it seemed too old to work”. Robbie would later use this rifle in the shooting
11 days prior to the shooting, robbie was arrested for having alcohol as a minor. This was not the only time Robbie was in trouble with the law (besides the aforementioned drug suspension). In november of 2007, robbie threatens to burn down the house of a local teenager and kill their family, because he thought they had stolen his CD player though she did not file any charges since he was known for such issues
Robbie had also recently broke up with his girl friend due to him cheating on her as well as him getting fired from his Mcdonald’s job due to him stealing $17
An hour prior to Robbie’s shooting, Robbie’s mother gave the Sarpy county police department his suicide note(s)
He also called his mother however she did not pick up (LINK)
He left his ex-girlfriend a text message but i could not find the contents of it online
Security camera footage shows Robbie entering the mall at 1:36 PM ,looking around, and then promptly leaving the store. Robbie then returned through the same entrance with a century WASR-10 (the version of the AKM 7.62X39mm semi automatic rifle which is available for public sale) which he stole from his step father and two 30 round magazines which he tapped together
Robbie went up to the the third floor of the mall through the elevator to the Von Maur store. Then the began randomly shooting employees since he did not have any targets in particular.
he first killed two women standing by a clothing rack, then he fired down an atrium killing two men on the first and second floor, next he wounded two people on the third floor, he then walked to the customer service desk area and shot several people plus killing three, finally he turned the gun on himself and shot himself.
In total, the attack lasted about 6 minutes
Autopsy reports on robbie show that he had 200 nanograms of valium in system which is congruent to what would be used in a therapy setting, though his friends claim he regularly smoked weed
John Vincent McDonald, 65
Angella Colette Schuster, 36
and Robbie Hawkins you were clearly mentally Ill and deserved more professional help
At the time, This shooting was the deadliest shooting in Nevada history since the 1950s.
The store in which the shooting took place was covered in flowers and signs with memorials for the victims 💗
Two Interviews which I found interesting
"He was the one guy, you know, if people would be getting in a fight he'd be trying to break it up," said Shawn Saunders, who had known Hawkins for about 2½ years. "If there were arguments amongst our friends or groups, he was kind of like the calm, cool and collected one."
"It was just so loud, and then it was silence," said witness Jennifer Kramer, who hid inside a circular clothing rack. "I was scared to death he'd be walking around looking for someone else."
Source 1 source 2 source 3 source 4 source 5 Source 6 source 7
Please let me know if any information is incorrect or if i’m missing anything!!
