Some worthless excuse for a human being went on a shooting rampage today in a Mall in Omaha, Nebraska.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A man opened fire with a rifle at a busy department store Wednesday, killing eight people before taking his own life in an attack that made holiday shoppers run screaming through a mall and barricade themselves in dressing rooms. Five more people were wounded, two critically. Witnesses said the gunman fired down on shoppers from a third-floor balcony of the Von Maur department store.

"My knees rocked. I didn't know what to do, so I just ran with everybody else," said Kevin Kleine, 29, who was shopping with her 4-year-old daughter at the Westroads Mall, in a prosperous neighborhood on the city's west side. She said she hid in a dressing room with four other shoppers and an employee.

The shooter - 20-year-old Robert A. Hawkins of Bellevue, according to friends and a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about it - was found dead on the third floor with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and his victims were discovered on the second and third floors, police said.

Sgt. Teresa Negron said the gunman killed eight people, then apparently killed himself. Authorities gave no motive for the attack and said they did not know whether he said anything during the rampage.

Source.

Over at Joe's Crabby Shack he says:

there is a big sign inside every mall entrance that says "MALL RULES" and item 3-4 is "no weapons" which is enough under state law to qualify. I have seen the sign.

Since the mall was a posted "Gun-Free Zone", law abiding citizens were stripped of any ability to defend themselves. Yet another wake-up call that "Gun-Free Zones" don't work. When will the anti-crowd face reality? Signs don't deter criminals, much less suicidal criminals.

UPDATE:

Omaha's Westroads Mall, as other US shopping centers, had just received 45,000 dollars from the government to improve its security before Wednesday's massacre, said Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Amy Kudwa.

"These random acts of violence can strike anywhere -- at schools, office buildings, post offices -- anywhere law-abiding citizens are present," Simon Property Group, which owns several US malls, said in a statement.

"Law enforcement and security prevention measures, no matter how good, cannot forestall a tragedy such as this from happening," it said.

No kidding? So why have the mall defined as a "Gun-Free Zone" if it's impossible to keep criminals from shooting up the place? Wake up!