Robert Hawkins was temporarily placed at an inpatient facility called the Richard Young Center when he was 13-years-old after threatening to kill his step-mother with a knife. He warned, “The only way she will leave the house is in a body bag.”
During a cognitive behavioral group therapy session the evening of the incident, he thought, “I’m here for no reason, I’m mad,” although he acknowledged, “They think I want to kill my parents.” Furthermore, on one of his intake forms, he listed his three feelings as “Angry to be here, relieved to be away from parents, and confused at why I’m here.”
In the following days, Hawkins remained indecisive about whether he wanted to return home or never step foot in his parents house again, as they explored his relationship with the family, particularly the animosity shown towards his step-mother. He described her as “mean and abusive” and that his father “sides with her everytime.” Hawkins commented she just “hates me so much” and believed it was due to his biological mother, recalling an argument they had when they first met: “I think my step mom thinks I’m just like my mom, that’s why she doesn’t like me.” He made several violent Mother’s Day cards for his stepmother, one with a hangman’s noose on the cover. On the inside, he wrote, “Thank you for not letting me kill myself” and “I tried to love you but I couldn’t.” The cards were confiscated, and in response, he said, “Why, she’s just my step-mom and she knows I hate her.”
Hawkins stated he was “scared” at home because his parents constantly “yell” at him, and he exhibited the same fear about an upcoming family meeting. Instead of facing them, he wished “a car would hit my family on their way here so they wouldn’t come tonight.”
He displayed a noted hopelessness towards the home situation throughout his time at the facility, once commenting, “I used to cry all the time, but now I can’t even cry anymore, I don’t even feel anything.” It was also here that he first expressed fantasies of murder-suicide. He told staff, “If anything happens at home I’ll probably kill my step mom and then kill myself.”
Five years later, this desire would become generalized, as Hawkins opened fire inside Von Maur department store at Westroads Mall, leaving nine dead, including himself.
