I think this is truly horrifying for the families involved.I am living in Az. and am from Ne.This has happened in Norfolk where I lived, my cousin was killed in the worst bank robbery ever in Norfolk and remember the horror well from family. My heart goes out to every family this will effect. God Bless you all when you will need it the most around the holidays.

I think we sometimes forget that reporters are just like us...with families and friends and people that they care about.  It is, however, highly unusual for them to write about their angst and confusion over these sad events.  Kudos to this writer for making us all stop and think.  We must remember to keep the city of Omaha in our thoughts and prayers.  This was truly an awful story.

Amen. The truly disturbing trend of non-accidental horrors grieves me in this seemingly god-forsaken nation.

There are reports that he left a suicide note about being famous.  There is a differece between being famous and imfamous.

I don't care to even know his name, but for the families and loved ones harmed he will be detested forever.

So, he allegedly stole the weapon from his step-dad. What I want to know is where did the step-dad get an assault weapon, and did he get it legally???
These weapons are not for hunting, nor are they for target shooting. They are designed to kill people and they should be outlawed!

I'm appalled at the media coverage of this whole incident.  The perpetrator claimed he wanted the fame, and the media is certainly giving it to him.  Instead of focusing on the victims of this horrific event, we now see the so-called experts as well as friends, family and former associates of this killer trying to explain and describe his life and what lead to all of it.  

Quite frankly, I don't care who he was, what he did prior to this event, and how he came to this point in his life.  He clearly stated that he wanted to be famous and go out in style.  Let's not accommodate the wishes of a cold blooded killer.  

this is a horrible tragedy struck too close to home. i have been very synacle to think that nothing like this could happen around here...guess everyone is wrong aat some point...i know i was .

I was sitting at my desk in Midtown Omaha when our local NBC radio station broke in to regular programming with the news of the shooting.  We were all transfixed.  2 women from the office had left Von Maur just 15 minutes before the shooting started.  

I sat at the breakroom table next to one of the women, watching the news coverage, and glanced at her.  She has two young children at home.  She just looked shell shocked.  I thought about giving her a hug, or even just patting her shoulder.  In the end I did nothing.

I think people "doing nothing" is part of how these kinds of crimes come to be.  We are so disconnected to one another.  We miss the subtleties of human existence - in this day of telecommuting, texting, IMing, email...  We have lost the knack for listening to inflection, reading expressions and body language.  

How many people saw this young man every day?  How many interacted with him? What did they miss?  What do we miss every day among our coworkers, our children's friends, our children?  

I think we all need to remember to reach out a hand to our neighbors.  We need to stop being afraid our good intentions will be misconstrued.  We need to learn just to be kind to one another.  We need to learn to be human.

I live in Omaha, NE and frequent that mall every week.  I also used to work as a Juvenile Service Officer for the state of Nebraska and have dealt with many disturbed youths, many of which have committed crimes such as robbery, burglary, assault, and drugs charges.  What this youth did is a far stretch from what our kids in Omaha get in trouble for these days, but not too far.  I am saddened by the loss of so many, especially so close to the holidays, but this is reality.  We live in a world where people, both teens and adults alike, just don't care anymore.  They feel that their lives are going nowhere and that no one understands what they are going through, so they decide to take it out on someone else.  People - please, ASK FOR HELP when you so desparately need it.  There are ALWAYS others who can help you, all you have to do is reach out.

When something like this happens often times fingers are pointed looking for someone or something to blame, but as the saying goes when you point one finger three others are pointing at you.  I believe that these are the edges of society's fabric unravelling and the lonliness and isolation that these individuals are suffering from is a societal problem and although we as humans tend to take a positive view that the world is going to be a better place I believe that if we don't start to take a holistic approach to solving our problems the fabric will continue to unravel.  Don't accept that there is a single solution to the problem - whatever the problem is.  The problem with this kid may go back all the way to the womb - with parents who weren't ready to be parents.  Or maybe it was a scholastic system that sees children as cattle to be rushed through a turnstile at the end.  Or maybe it was isolation caused by media addiction - being unable to decide which life is better the one in the media or your own, (media includes tv, newspapers, video etc.  We have to become problem solvers not problem identifiers - we've had enough of that for too long.

how someone sees a troubled, depressed boy with a gun and dont call police.he gave that lady a lot of clues about what he was about to do. when you see something, say something. Now eigth inocent people are dead. The letter,the last comment: "I'll be famous" es very clear. He planned a mass killing. She's to blame. sorry.

I too, have tried to put myself in the mind of a truly distributed person who could take the life of another.  Their no good reason to kill.  I live in the southern part of this country.  Here, alot of people thinks going hunting to kill a frighten, defenseless animal is fun.  If you could hide in a tree, and wait for a gentle animal to walk by then pull a trigger to kill it, why could not you not have the courage to pull it on a human.  I know that taking the life of an animal is not illegal, or immoral.  But if you are taught by your father, or peers that you are a "man", if you can pull that trigger, could a tortured mind find it easy to pull it on a person.  Being man who is tender hearted in this part of the country is ridiculed as a sissy.  i'm not saying that his parents, or friends made him a killer, maybe society had alot to do with it.  Which makes us all to blame.

Wake up America! What is it in our great society that continues to breed these cowards who's kill for no reason (Coumbine, The Amish School incident, Va Tech, in Penn.) among other recent atrocities. It's unfortunate that they were only "man enough" with a weapon in their hands.
We need to teach our children to be accountable for their actions and the need to coexist in society and be a contributing member, strength come from within and it's taught to us by our parents and/or guardians who in this latest incident have failed as parents and mentors.  

I'm glad to hear that you haven't lost the capacity to feel all those emotions, even while doing your professional job as a journalist. I'm sure your kids will get an extra hug (if they'll let you) when you get home.

I’m sitting here so angry I can barely contain it right now. Yesterday, another loser decided to end his problems by taking eight people’s lives before killing himself. Apparently, after losing his girlfriend and job, he wanted to die, but that wasn’t enough for him. He had to“go out in a blaze of glory.”

I’m saddened and disgusted by the senseless loss of life and horrible suffering for the families involved, especially at the holidays, but I’m furious that the news coverage of the event concentrated on this jerk’s personality and his problems. The news coverage is all about the gunman, his past record, and what others around him thought of him. Far less coverage was given to the eight families and the hundreds, if not thousands, of people who will be grieving for his victims who were so mercilessly executed.

Don’t you see, we’re contributing to this?  By the media’s unending, exhaustive coverage for a public that can’t get enough of the gory details, we are granting these misfits their last wishes. Columbine. Virginia Tech. Salt Lake City. And now, Omaha. I don’t care what their problems or grievances are, nothing, NOTHING, justifies this. And I don’t want to contribute to it anymore, either. I don’t want these lunatics’ deeds or problems published. Bury their bodies in unmarked graves; remove their names from the records. Deny them the glory they crave, and make sure the next one, who just might shoot you or  your loved one, knows that he won’t get a moments fame because he had a bad day.

I grew up blocks from that mall. I live in Minneapolis now. I drove over the 35W bridge at 5:30 on August 1st. My sister ran errands at Westroads yesterday. These events are similar in the fact that they are both structural failures; one truly a structure and one a failure of our societal structure. People knew that both the bridge and this boy were damaged.  I wish someone 'in the system' had gone the extra mile to take care of the boy and the bridge.

Omaha, Nebraska I am so sorry for another reality check.  My heart and prayers go out to all of you.  MEDIA-GET IT RIGHT NEXT TIME!!!!

How painful, how sad another American killed in the great USA.  What happened to America in this the new millenium? The real heroes are those of the flight over Pennsylvania during 911, they stood up and fought back and saved many lives even though they lost theirs. What happened to Americans the ones who stand up instead of saying "Oh look he has a gun let's run", how many more have to die, when we as Americans stand by and watch rather than stand up?.

I have to say that the lady who the killer was living with is to blame to some extent. She knew he was on medication for depression and allowed him to keep that gun in his possession???? Hello there are people out there that can help with depression, you can't take a pill and think that everything is going to be ok. It don't work that way.

No matter what he was going through as he lived, it will pale in comparison to the conditions in which he will spend eternity.

Blame Dr. Spock and all the liberal idiots who deplore spanking. Even a paddling is human contact and tells a child that someone CARES about them. Instead, our society now throws money at children and expects them to raise themselves on TV, video games and cheap consumer goods from China.
What we need is to turn back the clock to 1940 and ban liberalism.

What in the world could this boy have done for his parents not to love him enough to keep him at home, shower him with love and help him through whatever he was going through?  Omaha residents you are in my prayers, along with the troubled boy who took lives and his own.

Thanks, Ms. Rinaldi (2:13 pm), your post is beautiful.

Decades ago, when the pundit claimed that, in the future, everyone would be famous for 15 minutes, I thought the notion was absurd and fatuous.  In these days of "reality TV 'stars' " and "celebutantes", however, it seems prescient and those, like this vile, little loser, who have no positive means of achieving that 15 minutes, are therefore reduced to committing outrages in order to "get their due".  AND the media gives them precisely what they want by publicizing them rather than their victims.  I think that coverage should be limited and, in every case, the media should harp on what a useless loser and waste of flesh the perpetrator is/was, while reserving space for glorifying the victims.  If the media must cover the perp, it should concentrate on publicizing everything which makes him look as small and ridiculous as he really was, so that others will understand that following in his footsteps will only make it public knowledge that they couldn't get a date to the prom and were still bedwetters at 19.  If "fame" is limited to having one's face posted in a urinal tray at the scene of the crime, perhaps "fame" won't be such an enticement anymore.  

Instead of being sheep, let law abiding people carry concealed weapons...When you can give me a guarantee that there is no more evil, then i will let you melt down my guns.

The media does it's best and sometimes worst in situations like this. But please stop calling him the shooter, the lost puppy, the troubled teen.  Let's call him what the manor of Omaha said he was.  A coward.  Or killer, murderer.  The families, friends, people of Omaha, people of Nebraska have to deal with this forever.  Don't make the killer famous, don't let him "go out in style".  The same day of the killings the Omaha World Herald newspaper had a flyer in it from the well known "Cabela's".  In it they advertised for sale for a Christmas gift, a pellet type gun that looked very similar to the rifle used in the murders.  It's time to wake up America and look at the examples adults and parents are making for their children.  Yesterday's killings are the end result of our examples.  Think about it.

Sandra Martinez from NY.

You didn't read the story correctly. The woman who took him in did not know about the note beforehand. He called her to tell her he left a note and she couldn't get him to explain anything.

She's not a mind reader and definitely not to blame.

Parents there we he needed them? Corporal punishment needed? This person is not the first to murder at his age, but the older values of discipline are gone and the new ones do not appear to work at all. Maybe some people like fat, sassy, and lazy, kids who want everything without giving anything, but I don't. Parental guidance takes work and without the commitment to do so, one (two) should not become a parent.

THANK YOU, Susan Hall! You said it best: What is this love affair the US has with weapons and being macho?

Read Prologue to Violence by Dr Abby Stein.  She links child abuse and severe neglect in childhood to violence in adults.  In this case, and every one I've read about since reading this book, there seems to be severe neglect in the perps past.

I definately do not think we should be putting the focus on the person who commited this horrible outrageous act.  And I also do not think that anyone should put any kind of blame on the poor woman whom this "man" was living with.  Out of the kindness of her heart she took him in when it seems nobody else cared!  You think this woman should have known when she saw this gun that it was an assault riffle, I would have no clue what kind of gun I was looking at. He hunted for leisure so it wouldn't have been out of the ordinary for him.  Im sorry writer from New York but I don't think you can simplify this so easily.  

Who gets fame? Criminals, alpha males/females(celebrities), and/or the rich. Take a man with no worth and literally show him through so many outlets that he will never be famous, successful, or worth anything more than he is right now, and see what happens. My guess is he thought his life was a frivolous act, no one loved him, and that he was going to take his anger out on the world because that was the only way for him to be set in the record books. No one was going to write a book about him when he was working at McDonalds. The American Dream is now to go to work, sit on your couch, drink beer, watch TV, and remember the good times.

This guy was a 15 on Dr. Stone's scale of evil. He definitely snapped, but some planning went into this act. He must have been full of rage and despair. The victims were not human to him. He didn't know or care about their lives.

"Now I'll be famous" was the quote one person said this young man wrote in his suicide letter.  Have we learned nothing from all of these incidents over the past decade since the Columbine shootings?  Did we learn nothing from the recent Virginia Tech mass killing, in which the shooter mailed a "press kit" to NBC with a manifesto and photos of brandishing weapons?  These troubled young kids see the headlines, the "Breaking News" alerts, the media coverage that happens when these things occur.  And they also see the national scope of it all.  The majority of America will see this kids face today.  Just like this shooter said, they see it as a way of gaining instant fame, even in death.  And the thing of it all is: They're absolutely right.  We don't see or remember the photos of the innocent victims nearly as long as we do those of their murderers.  And that's really sad.

The solution?  It seems rather elementary to myself.  DO NOT REVEAL THE NAME OR THE PHOTO OF THE MURDERER TO THE PUBLIC.  You can talk about 1st Amendment Rights all you want.  This is a serious problem in this country.  Many families were torn apart again.  What do they turn on the news and see?  Pictures of their loved one's killer.  Any victim's family will still get all they need to know.  The local town this happens in will surely know who the killer is through word-of-mouth.  Why do we need to see the face of a mass murderer as a nation?  WE DON'T.  Would this solve the problem?  No, you are never going to escape this kind of violence all together.  But I think it would make young people thinking of committing a crime like this in order to gain instant fame a second to pause, knowing their death would be as meaningless as they think their life is.

Andy,

Would you feel better is had used a hunting rifle?  There are plenty of semi-automatic hunting rifles that can be loaded quickly and emptied even faster.

Or how about a bolt action rifle?  The Brits made millions of Lee-Enfield rifles that could be worked very quickly.  In fact, the rate of fire with the old SMLE was so impressive that the Germans thought they were under attack by British machine guns when in fact is was simply a group of Brit riflemen.

Or maybe you are comfortable with an old revolver?  I guess being killed by a revolver is acceptable to you because it doesn't look as threatening as an SKS which is by no stretch of the imagination and "assault rifle."  As for purchasing an SKS, they are legal in all 50 states IIRC.  They are no more deadly than a Marlin lever action .30-30.

There is nothing in the Constitution that protects hunting.  In fact, the only weapons spoken of are military weapons.  The 2nd Amendment is an individual right to keep and bear military arms.

All of that is secondary to the fact that a screwed-up kid made a screwed-up choice.  I work full-time with at-risk students.  I see students like this kid every day.  They are the product of messed up families and messed up brains.

In the final analysis, this kid was entirely responsible and not some inanimate object.

I am so deeply saddened by this tragedy.  My heart and prayers go out to the victims, their families and the entire Omaha community.  

I was an Omaha resident for over 11 years and can honestly say there is little not to love about Omaha and the people that live there.  

The loss of any life is senseless and hard to swallow, especially when it strikes what we perceive as a "safe haven".  Humanity is fragile and extreemly volitle.

Many experts and officials are commenting on what drives a person to commit such a crime.  Words like "loser", "psychopath", "coward" and "depression" are tossed around freely.  

The truth is, we as a society are to blame.  It wasn't the loss of a job or recent break up with a girlfriend that caused this tragedy.  This was a youth who was a ward of the state, who lived in a group home... this youth experienced a failing in not only his nuclear family but from social service, mental health  and sadly, the community.  We live in a society that has a defunct mental health system.  The idea that we can aid depression, anxiety, aggression etc., by simply popping a pill is wrong.  Initially, psychotropic drugs were to be perscribed in conjunction with therapy.  Perscriptions are written left and right yet thousands of people are unseen by appropriate mental health practicioners.  Deep seeded traumas and wounds are not cured by topically applying a band aid.  

Omaha is home to Boys and Girls town. Ask any of the professionals or residents working there and I assure you they will have tremendous insight on this issue.  

WE spend billions of dollars on terrorist only to ignore the issues at home creating  our own terroristic society. Unless we as a society focus our funding and attention to the lack of U.S. mental health system we will only experience more painfull heartache.  

How very sad it is. I agree with Mary Barness from Mpls. What goes on outside our safe little worlds affects us all. We cannot hide behind gated communities and security systems and stay safe. If we don't work together to fix our world and help those in need (like a lost boy that was abandoned by his family) we will all end up sooner or later ultimately paying a huge price. abandond

When will the media stop glorifying the disturbed souls who are looking for a way to be noticed?  Just within this week the media in Nebraska trotted out the 50th Anniversary of the Starkwether killings in Nebraska for all to remember. The event was even brought up and talked about at a church Christmas party I attended just Monday because it was recently remembered by the media.  Could this boy have seen this also and decided he too wanted to be remembered for all time for something - anything - even killing and trying to make someone else hurt as much as he did so he could be famous. Let us stop remembering the evil that is done. Remember the goodness - perpetuate the good will of mankind. Prayers and Blessings for the victims and their families and friends.

I am saddened by these events, as much as I am saddened by the lack of compassion on behalf of some of you on this message board. For one, this "Great Nation" has an abysmal record when it comes to our children with 75% of them experiencing some type of child maltreatment in their lifetime. For two, I would really appreciate it, if people would look at the root causes of these issues and try to find solutions. This is not just a problem of a few families, it's our problem as a country to deal with. That means looking at the images we portray in video games, such as Assassins Greed, etc. on the Wii, XBOX, Nintendo, etc., as well as in our bloody, gritty movies, media, the Internet, our role models, to name but a few. Where are our children getting the message that violence against others is the only answer to their struggles? What is happening in our homes to make them so angry without having the appropriate means to express their emotions or have empathy and regard for human life? Are we not hypocritical to call this a country that is for life? What are we doing to nurture and care for the lives and emotional wellbeing of our children?

Having said that, kudos to Anne Rinaldi for her honesty and insights and to Tom O'Hara for looking at some of the societal problems that drive these events. Shame on those of you whom feel the shooter doesn't merit our attention in a sense of us trying to learn from the events or put the blame on the family who took steps to help get him back on his feet. Yes, he was depressed and had issues but to expect for someone to foresee his actions is a bit far reaching. Most of us assume good intent on behalf of others and can't always image the terrible things some people are capable of doing. Regardless of how you put it, he was a human being with a distorted view of the world based on his experiences with it. I would venture to guess, he experienced some emotional or even physical abuse in his past given the behaviors described with regard to the nail biting and remaining in the fetal position. Where was the family in all of this in getting him the help needed? Is it not just like most of our country to push the problems we encounter and the accountability for them down the line onto someone else so we don't have to take any responsibility for ourselves and our actions? Instead, we expect our teachers, our government, our employers, our churches to solve our challenges for us. That's not fair to anyone. As Susan Hall pointed out, we are all to blame for some portion of this.

My deepest sympathies to all of the families loosing loved ones so close to the holidays. My thoughts and prayers are with you in this difficult time.

PLEASE START BY STOPPING COVERAGE OF THESE EVENTS!

1

Andy in Arizona should no better than to blame a semi-automatic rifle for this tragedy. The SKS rifle with a five rd. mag is used for deer hunting, and is also one of the most popular target rifles in the USA today.  Any adult with a DL and no previous history of mental problems or felony convictions can buy one. The killers parents are to blame.  They had 18 years to raise their child into a decent human being.

Take your safety into your own hands! Another "Gun free" zone gets shot up. You can put up a sign, you can even outlaw guns. It won't stop it. Someone who wants to kill themselves and other people will find a way. Ban all the inanimate objects you want. You won't stop it. The only way you're going to stop it is to wake up and take your personal safety into your own hands. Most states allow law abiding, trained citizens to carry weapons. Take the time to go through the training and learn to use a weapon. Then carry it with you when you go to public places like this. It very well could save your life or the life of someone you love. When seconds count, the police are only minutes away. Stop asking certain weapons to be banned. Civilians are allowed to have these weapons for very good reasons. If you don't know the reason then you need to take some history lessons on how tyrants and dictators take control of countries. YOU are the only person resonsible for keeping YOU safe.

Maybe now people living in Omaha will wake up and smell the coffee.  This really hits home.  Not New York, Los Angeles, Miami or Chicago but Omaha, Nebraska.
There are a lot of societal problems out here and life is tough for a lot of young people in Omaha.  I would hate to be growing up in today's day and age.  It's just as dysnfunctional in Omaha as it is anyplace else.  No traditional family values.
It's obvious this person was the product of another dysfunctional family upbringing.  And it's not going to get much better as there are a lot out there like him.  Omaha for it's size, as I grew up in the Chicago area suburbs (Downers Grove, IL) is a violent place to live.  Are dysfunctional society is too blame for leading up to this incident.

 This mall in Omaha has a policy of not allowing individuals to carry concealed or unconcealed weapons, even though concealed weapons are legal in Omaha.  In all of these cases where we have these mass murders, the murderers always go to a public venue (whether a school or a mall) where they know the prospective victims will not be armed.  What does that tell you?  It tells me that the mall was responsible for this nass murder by not allowing private law abiding citizens to protect themselves.  The mall should be sued.  Note that the young man, whom I am sure saw the sign that prohibited guns, ignored the gun prohibition.  What is the point of the prohibition if it is not going to stop mass murder?  

I just wanted to let those of you know that are upset about the lack of coverage of the victims that there names were just released here in Omaha this morning. I'm not sure what coverage they are getting now since I'm at work. But hopefully the media will begin to address them more than the boy that killed them.

That being said I understand why the media has been focusing on him. When something like this happens there is a need to find out why and unfortunately the only way to do that is by concentrating on the monster that committed the acts.

Kudos Mr. Henkel for your honesty.

Hearing of the carnage and senseless killing in Omaha I am almost overwhelmed with a sense of saddness and hopelessness realizing that once again innocent people have died unnecessarily because of easy access to hand guns and assault wheapons.  When are we finally going to get it?

I am from Nebraska and for over 8 years worked 1 mile from Westroads Mall. My heart goes out to all the victims and their families, this is a senseless loss of life. I like many of you think we need to focus on the victims and their families because there is NO justification for this event. God Bless The Families of these victims.

I am a teacher and i work with kids every day!  I know all of my kids personalities, its my job! If i see my student acting out of character i ask why? and i listen!  These people are looking to get famous quickly because they are usually to lazy to do it the hard way! Sure their troubled, but to say now ill be famous and kill eight people should wake up the news media, and our government, who are looking for the reason this is happening. All of these people who set out to be famous  forever have done just that thanks to all of us. The news media for covering the wrong people, TV and movies for making stars out of these murderers, an us for watching it !

we're all grieving, and we're all numb. we all mourn and feel for the victims. we all wish we could do something, we all wish this hadn't happened. we need to forget about blame right now, we need to pray and figure out how we can help the victims loved ones and figure out how we can do better to keep this from happening

My thoughts and prayers to the families and friends, of all those murdered. May God bless you and keep you close.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):