Mall shooter a time bomb

Robert Hawkins killed 6 people in a mall in Omaha. Read the article below. He was in treatment centers for 4 years. It was not clear where he was living at the time of the shootings. He lost his job at McDonalds. He and his mother ate dinner at the house of her ex husband, Robert's stepfather, the night before the shootings. he took an assault rifle from his stepfathers house. His stepfather is not available for comment because he is in thailand - I feel sorry for the dead and injured, but this kid Robert had a hell of a life: first of all Omaha - an island in the middle of the plain states: there is nothing there except a big air force base. Second, his family: he spent 4 years away from his family in residential treatment centers: when he turned 18, he is an adult, and there is no state funds for treating adults for behavioral disorders in a residential setting. So he was kicked out of the system. Third, he worked at McDonalds, a minimum wage job, probably part time (so they didnt have to pay him benefits), probably because he lacks a high school diploma. Fourth, his stepdad has an assault rifle: why? who is he planning to assault? Home protection? Install a burgler alarm system. Fifth, his step father is in Thailand: why thailand? What is Thailand known for? underage sex? Robert sounds severely disturbed: the not uncommon cause of severe emotional disturbance in teens and pre teens is sexual abuse. I want to know more about Stepdad and his relationship with Robert. This was one angry boy: so angry he wanted to take it out on the world before killing himself. Who to blame? You need to take a test in order to get a drivers license, but anyone can have a child, regardless of how stupid, cruel, or f**ked up they are. Robert didn't seem to have a chance given where and how he grew up. I pray for him and his victims.


The mother of the teenage gunman who killed eight people at a busy shopping mall earlier this month apologized Thursday for her son's crime and said she did her best raising him.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Maribel Rodriguez told ABC's "Good Morning America" when asked what she would say to the victims' families. "I'm deeply devastated with you."

Her son, Robert Hawkins, 19, fired more than 30 rounds inside a mall department store Dec. 5, striking 11 people. Six died where they fell, one died on the way to a hospital and another died at a hospital. Three other people were wounded, two seriously.

Hawkins was a troubled teenager who spent four years in a series of treatment centers, group homes and foster care after threatening to kill his stepmother in 2002. He had recently broken up with a girlfriend and lost his job at a McDonald's.

She and Hawkins ate supper together at the house of her ex-husband — Hawkins' stepfather — the night before the shootings, Rodriguez said. The stepfather was vacationing in Thailand.

She and police have said Hawkins took the assault rifle he used in the shootings from his stepfather's closet.

Hawkins either was kicked out or left that home some time ago. At the time of the shootings, he was living with Debora Maruca-Kovac and her husband, whose sons were friends with Hawkins, Maruca-Kovac has said. He had lived there for a little more than a year.
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