It was barely three weeks before Christmas. Holiday music was probably playing over the speakers, and the Westroads Mall in Omaha was humming with that specific kind of December energy—busy, a little frantic, but generally cheerful. Then, at 1:43 p.m. on December 5, 2007, everything shattered.
The Omaha shooting Von Maur incident wasn’t just another headline. For those of us in the Midwest, it felt like a total loss of innocence. You don't expect a quiet Wednesday afternoon at an upscale department store to turn into a war zone. But 19-year-old Robert Hawkins had different plans. He didn't just walk in and start shooting; he actually "scouted" the place first.
He walked into the south entrance of Von Maur at 1:36 p.m. He was unarmed. He looked around, scanned the floor, and just... left. Six minutes later, he was back. This time, he had a Century WASR-10 semi-automatic rifle hidden under a baggy black sweatshirt.
The Six Minutes That Changed Omaha
Hawkins took the elevator straight to the third floor. Honestly, the cold calculation of it is what gets me. He stepped out of those elevator doors and immediately opened fire.
Two women standing near clothing racks were the first to fall. Then, he moved toward the balcony. From that third-floor atrium, he could see down into the first and second floors. He started firing over the railing. It was chaos. People below thought they were hearing a nail gun or maybe some construction work. It took a few seconds for the screams to start.
Who Were the Victims?
We talk about the "Omaha shooting Von Maur" as an event, but it was really a collection of stolen lives. Eight people died that day, and it's important to say their names because they weren't just statistics in a police report.
- Beverly Flynn, 47: A mother and an employee who was just doing her job.
- Janet Jorgensen, 66: She’d worked at Von Maur for years.
- Gary Joy, 56: Another dedicated staff member.
- John McDonald, 65: A customer who was just out shopping.
- Gary Scharf, 48: Also a customer, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- Angella Schuster, 36: A department manager.
- Dianne Trent, 53: An employee.
- Maggie Webb, 24: The store manager, so young and with so much ahead of her.
Hawkins eventually turned the gun on himself near the customer service desk. By the time the Omaha Police arrived—which was only about six minutes after the first 911 call—it was over.
The "Famous" Suicide Note and the Warning Signs
After the dust settled, the story of Robert Hawkins started to leak out, and it was a mess. He was living with a friend's family in Bellevue because he'd been kicked out of his own home. The woman who took him in, Debora Maruca-Kovac, basically described him as a "lost puppy."
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But that puppy had teeth.
He had been fired from his job at McDonald's that very morning. Why? He was accused of stealing $17 from the till. $17. He’d also recently broken up with his girlfriend. In his suicide note, which was three pages of raw, messy handwriting, he wrote something that still chills people to this day: "Now I'll be famous."
He also wrote, "I've just snapped... I've been a constant disappointment." It's a classic, tragic profile of a kid who felt like a "piece of s***" (his words) and wanted to go out in a way that ensured the world couldn't ignore him anymore.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Weapon
There’s often a lot of chatter about where the gun came from. Some reports at the time suggested it was a military-grade AK-47, but technically it was a WASR-10, a civilian semi-automatic version. He didn't buy it at a store. He stole it from his stepfather’s house.
Security at the mall was basically nonexistent back then. I mean, it was 2007. There were no metal detectors, and mall security was mostly there to stop shoplifters, not active shooters. The surveillance footage released later showed him walking in with a noticeable bulge under his sweatshirt, but in a crowded mall in December, nobody noticed a teenager in baggy clothes.
The Aftermath: Is Westroads Safe Now?
If you go to Westroads Mall today, you’ll notice things are different. The Von Maur store eventually reopened, though it took weeks. They changed the layout. They added more security. But the psychological scar is still there.
This shooting changed how malls across the country think about "soft targets." We learned that response time is everything. The fact that the police were there in six minutes is incredible, but in six minutes, Hawkins had already fired over 40 rounds.
Actionable Takeaways for Modern Safety
While we can't live in fear, the Omaha shooting Von Maur taught us a few "real world" lessons that still apply if you're out in public spaces:
- Know the Exits: It sounds paranoid, but survivors at Von Maur were the ones who knew where the back stockrooms and freight elevators were. When you walk into a large store, just take a mental note of where the "employees only" doors are. They usually lead to exits.
- Trust the "Pop": Multiple witnesses said the gunshots sounded like construction or a nail gun. If you hear a series of rhythmic pops in a place where there shouldn't be construction, don't wait to "see" what it is. Move.
- The "Run, Hide, Fight" Protocol: This wasn't a standard term back in 2007, but it is now. Many people in the Von Maur shooting survived by hiding in garment racks or locking themselves in bathrooms.
The tragedy in Omaha remains the deadliest mass shooting in Nebraska's history. It’s a heavy legacy for a city that usually prides itself on being a quiet, safe place to raise a family. Even now, years later, the memorial snowflakes for the victims serve as a quiet reminder that the world changed that Wednesday afternoon.
When you're looking into the details of the incident, remember that the "fame" Hawkins wanted came at the cost of eight families who still have an empty chair at their Christmas dinner table. The best way to honor them is to remember the lives they lived, not just the way they died.
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To stay informed on local safety protocols or historical case studies, checking the official Omaha Police Department archives or the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services can provide deeper context on how mental health systems have evolved since 2007.