OMAHA — Mall gunman Robbie Hawkins had threatened to kill people as long as five years ago and as recently as two weeks ago.
The day after he turned 14, Hawkins was sent to a group home after threatening to kill his stepmother, court records show. Two weeks ago, he threatened to kill a 16-year-old girl and her family after accusing her of stealing things from his car, the girl said Thursday.
“He said, ‘I’m going to kill you, I am going to kill your family, and I’m going to burn your house down,’ ” she said.
The girl, a neighbor, shrugged off the threat because Hawkins was known for “shooting his mouth off.” “I never really thought that he would follow through with something like this,” she said.
Interviews and court records detail the troubled childhood of the 19-year-old whose suicide ended Wednesday’s killing rampage.
Hawkins was a foster child for about four years. He had been in the custody of his father, Ronald, in LaVista, when he became a foster child in 2002. Hawkins’ parents divorced when he was 3.
Hawkins had been hospitalized twice for psychiatric problems before being admitted for “homicidal threats he made to his stepmother.” Four months later, he was made a state ward. The center’s staff said he should not be released.
He stayed at a facility in Waynesville, Mo., for at least another month before moving to group homes and at least one foster home in Omaha.
He was charged in March 2005 with a misdemeanor for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.
Hawkins’ father asked earlier this year for help from his neighbor John Hubbard, a captain with the Douglas County Department of Corrections. Ronald Hawkins asked if Hubbard would take the youth on a tour of the jail to help set him straight.
Hubbard said the jail has a policy against such tours.
After Hawkins’ court cases ended last year, he moved in with a friend’s family, said the mother, Debora Maruca-Kovac.
The night before the shooting, Hawkins and her sons showed Maruca-Kovac an AK-47-style rifle. She didn’t think much of it — it looked too old to work.
Hawkins took the weapon to the mall Wednesday afternoon.
“I think, ‘Why didn’t I do something?’ ” Maruca-Kovac said.
As a thick snow blanketed the city Thursday, residents packed churches for prayer vigils. Police ordered extra patrols at other area malls as they continued to investigate Omaha’s deadliest shooting in 50 years. The attack, they said, was over before the first officer arrived.
“It doesn’t appear there was an opportunity for mall security or police officers to engage this shooter,” Chief Tom Warren said at a City Hall news conference.
The New York Times contributed to this report.
The Victims
Gary Scharf was on his way home to Lincoln after a business trip in Iowa when he stopped at the Von Maur store. “I’m sure he got in front of other people” and took a bullet that might have hit someone else, said his ex-wife, Kim Scharf. “That’s who he is, to a fault.” Scharf, 48, sold agricultural products and was devoted to helping people, she said.
Beverly Flynn, 47, a gift wrapper at the Von Maur, had been a real-estate agent for NP Dodge Co. since last year. Whenever she closed a deal, the Omaha woman planted a rose bush in the yard of the new homeowners, company spokeswoman Susan Young said. She could not be resuscitated after being shot in the chest.
Angie Schuster had planned to teach elementary school after graduating from college, but when she couldn’t find a job in the field, she started working in retail, said her older sister, Donna Kenkel. Schuster, 36, of Omaha, was a manager at Von Maur. The sisters last saw each other Sunday at a child’s birthday party.
Dianne Trent, a store employee, spent warm evenings tending to the flowers on her porch, drinking tea and chatting with her neighbor, Errol Schlenker. “A very incredibly sweet person,” Schlenker said. Divorced many years ago and with no children, Trent, 53, lived with a small dog and two cats, Schlenker said.
John McDonald, 65, and his wife of 40 years were getting Christmas gifts wrapped at the Von Maur when the shooting started. They tried to hide, but he was shot and died before paramedics could reach him, said his wife, Kathy. “He was one of the greatest people anyone could hope to meet,” Kathy McDonald said.
Gary Joy loved writing stories and poems and was a devoted son, his 91-year-old mother said. Inez Joy said her 56-year-old son often dined with her at her Omaha retirement community. Gary Joy, a Von Maur employee from Omaha, died before he arrived at a hospital. Joy, who had lived in Denver, was divorced and had no children.
Janet Jorgensen, 66, a 14-year employee of Von Maur, was planning a wedding for one of her grandchildren and getting ready for the college graduation of another. “Her grandchildren were her life,” said family friend Paul Huntimer. Jorgensen had eight, ages 8 to 25, and three children of her own.
Maggie Webb was new to the Omaha Von Maur store. She transferred there from a Chicago location earlier this year, according to her alma mater, Illinois State University. She graduated in 2005 with a degree in business administration. Webb, who was about two weeks shy of her 25th birthday, was the youngest victim of Wednesday’s shooting rampage.
