Mourners light candles for Omaha mall victims

OMAHA, Neb. - Mourners lit eight red candles and five blue ones Thursday for each of those killed or injured one day earlier after a troubled young man opened fire in a department store before taking his own life.

The ceremony was held at St. John’s Church on Creighton University’s campus, where The Rev. Roc O’Connor read the names of the victims aloud, KETV-TV reported.

"We can see the light in the midst of darkness. We can encounter hope in the midst of despair," the Rev. Andy Alexander said.

At least three of those killed and injured were Creighton alumni and had developed deep roots in the area.

"This is something that is going to hit home for everyone who lives here," mourner Robyn Eden told KETV-TV. "Small community — regardless of how many people live here. This is a small town."

President Bush offered sympathy Thursday to the families of the victims.

“I was in Omaha just before the shooting took place, and I know what a difficult day it is for that fine community,” said Bush, who had traveled to the area to attend a Republican fundraiser and was on his way back to Washington when the shootings took place.

“The victims and their loved ones are in the prayers of Americans,” Bush said. “The federal government stands ready to help in any way we can, and the whole nation grieves for the people of Omaha.”

Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey also expressed shock and sadness at the Westroads Mall shooting at a news conference Thursday.

“Today, we are still reeling form the events that few have ever imagined would take place in Omaha,” he said. “We will not accept this evil act to occur in our community.”

Victims remembered
Police identified the eight murder victims Thursday morning after notifying families. The victims ranged in age from 24 to 66, and were both employees and customers.

The customers killed were Gary Scharf, 48 of Lincoln and John McDonald, 65, of Council Bluffs, Iowa. The employees killed were Angie Schuster, 36, of Omaha; Maggie Webb, 24; Janet Jorgensen, 66 of Omaha; Diane Trent, 53 of Omaha; Gary Joy, 56 of Omaha; and Beverly Flynn, 47, of Omaha, police said.

Scharf’s ex-wife described him as loyal and honorable.

“I called him my Dudley-do-right,” Kim Scharf said, “I’m sure he got in front of other people” and took a bullet that might have hit someone else. “There’s no doubt in my mind, I promise you. That’s who he is, to a fault.”

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. “She was a middle-of-the-road American, a dedicated worker. She was just a decent person who lived a good life here.”

More details revealed
Police also released more details about the attack Thursday, saying the gunman may have smuggled the assault rifle into the mall underneath clothing.

WOWT-TV Robert Hawkins, 19, shown in a high school yearbook photo, opened fire Wednesday at an Omaha, Neb., department store.

Police Chief Thomas Warren said the young man “appeared to be concealing something balled up in a hooded sweat shirt” he was carrying, according to a surveillance video.

Police believe Hawkins stole the assault rifle, an AK-47, from his stepfather’s home, Warren said.

The teen entered the store Wednesday using an elevator, and moments later, gunfire pierced through the notes of Christmas music at the Westroads Mall’s Von Maur department store. People huddled in dressing rooms and barricaded themselves in offices as 19-year-old Robert A. Hawkins sprayed the floor with bullets.

Six store employees and two customers were killed. When the shooting was over, Hawkins shot himself.

The mall was closed Thursday as authorities continued to investigate what may have motivated the teen to go on the shooting spree. The shooting spree was Nebraska’s deadliest since January 1958, when Charles Starkweather killed 10 people in Nebraska and another in Wyoming.

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