The mourners Friday talked about how they felt a year ago, on Dec. 5, 2007, after the shooting stopped on the store's third floor.
ANNA JO BRATTON and JOSH FUNK / The Associated Press | Posted: Thursday, December 4, 2008 6:00 pm
OMAHA — Employees poured out the south doors of Omaha’s Von Maur store Friday as hundreds of people gathered to remember the eight people killed last year by a 19-year-old gunman.
The employees, customers and others in the crowd talked to each other about where they were last Dec. 5, when Robert Hawkins shot and killed eight people and himself amid holiday music and Christmas decorations in the store at Westroads Mall.
Whitney Allbery, 16, was on the first floor of the store when she and her friends heard gunshots. The girls hid behind a makeup counter, unsure where the shooter was or how close they were to danger.
“It’s hard to remember sometimes, because it was such a horrible experience,’’ Allbery said. “It’s so weird to me that it’s been a year.’’
The 15-minutes ceremony Friday was held about the same time Hawkins first entered Von Maur on Dec. 5, 2007. He returned a few minutes later with an assault-style rifle, took the elevator to the third floor and started shooting.
“For most of us, it was the shock that something like this could happen in our city,’’ said Mayor Mike Fahey. “But all of our hearts hurt that day.’’
Family members of the victims surrounded the podium on the steps, and company president Jim von Maur told them that those lost would be grieved and remembered for a long time to come.
“In their own unique ways, each of them brought happiness to the lives they touched,’’ von Maur said. “They were our colleagues, neighbors, friends and family.’’
Von Maur gave all employees the option of staying home Friday, but few did.
Fred Wilson, who was shot and nearly died, was at work and at the ceremony, with his arm in a sling, a metal plate in his shoulder and an unexpected forgiveness for the young man who killed several of his friends.
“I will never forget what happened. I will never forget,’’ the 62-year-old Wilson said. “But I’m not burdened with hatred and animosity. From the very beginning, I had none of those feelings.’’
The privately held Von Maur is based in Davenport, Iowa.
It offered counseling for all store employees and paid for the funerals of those killed and the medical expenses of those injured. A fund set up to help victims raised $1.3 million, including $500,000 from Von Maur. The money was given to families for expenses such as college funds for the children of those killed.
The mall reopened three days after the Dec. 5 shooting although Von Maur, which is one of the mall’s anchors, did not reopen until Dec. 21. The shooting hasn’t had a lasting effect on business.
Some customers told store workers that they suspended their Christmas shopping last December until they could shop at Von Maur once it reopened.
Mall manager Jim Sadler said that since the shooting, the 40-year-old Westroads has enjoyed one of its best business years. Construction of a new movie theater and several store openings in 2008 have helped boost interest in the mall.
Jim von Maur said his company evaluated its store security after the shooting, but he wouldn’t discuss details.
Sadler said all of the mall’s security procedures were evaluated as well, but few changes were made.
Officials have determined that very little could have been done to stop Hawkins short of running the mall like an airport and searching every customer who enters.
“Nobody is going to want to come to a shopping mall if they see guards with M-16s standing at all the doors, and people having to pass through metal detectors,’’ Sadler said. “I just don’t think people are ready to live their lives like that.’’
Soon after the shooting, hundreds of people hung impromptu memorials — many of them in the form of paper snowflakes — or left remembrances on the store’s south steps.
Those memorial items were carefully collected, and most went to the families of the victims. Von Maur is storing the rest in case the families want them as well someday.
A plaque sits near the base of the escalators in Von Maur. It lists the names of the eight people killed on the afternoon of Dec. 5, 2007: Beverly Flynn, Gary Joy, Janet Jorgensen, John McDonald, Gary Scharf, Angie Schuster, Dianne Trent and Maggie Webb.
El Siebert said he attended the memorial ceremony Friday because the shooting was an important event in Omaha.
“We have to remember this and hope that this never happens again,’’ said Siebert.
The Rev. Harry Buse of St. Leo Catholic Church in Omaha, who spoke at Friday’s ceremony, said Omaha came together like a “big small town.’’
But time alone can’t heal a wound as deep as the shooting created.
“Healing happens when love, understanding and compassion are experienced,’’ Buse said. “The greater the pain, the more the need for healing.’’