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This is a first-hand experience of someone’s visit to the Please take a few minutes to read it.

Dear Family and Friends,
The Westroads Mall in Omaha re-opened today and, at 9 :00 a. m., I went there for my daily walk. Here is what I found:
Mall administrators handing out candy canes at every outside entrance to the mall as they said ‘Thank you for coming today.’
Free coffee and cookies set-up in the food court and all servers saying, ‘Thank you for coming today’.
Many, many security guards were walking and milling around. I heard that they had come from all over the Midwest on their day off from another full-time job to provide comfort and reassurance.
Every store/mall employee had a candy cane waiting for them when they arrived….tied to each candy cane was the note, ‘Thank you for coming to work and have a comforting, happy day’.
….The two inside entrances from the mall to Von Maur had their gates down and the gates were covered with tasteful white drapes, but all lights were on…..it would have been very creepy if there had been no lights. Von Maur management had beautiful wreaths at each entrance with a tribute letter to Wednesday’s victims. Many Red Cross volunteers had large tables set-up in front of the two mall entrances complete with lots of paper, crayons, pens, scissors, and tape for visitors to make snowflakes, with or without messages and tape on the gated entrances. The significance of the snowflakes was written in a poem….life is as fragile as a snowflake and can be taken away from us so quickly.
Many, many stuffed animals, bouquets and tribute cards were being left at all entrances to Von Maur.
….Other Red Cross volunteers, who were not busy with the snowflakes, plus Salvation Army staff and grief counselors were milling around the crowds at the two Von Maur entrances. People knelt or stood in front of the entrances obviously saying a prayer, there were many tears, and many hugs between complete strangers.
By the time I could finally tear myself away (a good hour after my walk), there were snowflakes being taped down the halls, the mall was packed, it was much quieter than normal, no one seemed in a hurry, and everyone seemed to greet passers by with at least a nod. The word is being spread about watching the news for the date of Von Maur’s re-opening. If you are able, please meet by the steps at the outside South entrance 15 minutes before the reopening of this beautiful store. All employees and management have been affected very deeply and need our support, if even just for a few minutes.

God bless the wonderful people of Omaha.

Pam

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What could have and should have happened in Omaha

Dec 10, 2007 Author: Chris200 | Filed under: blog post

December 10th 2007

The Omaha mall massacre could have gone a different way.

A safe society = well-armed citizen.

This piece is a well written, “not-so-funny” satire from Scott Ott of Scrappleface.

(2007-12-07) — When 19-year-old Robert Hawkins entered the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska, carrying an AK-47 assault rifle wrapped in a sweater, he intended to become famous by shooting as many people as possible and then turning the gun on himself.

The mentally-troubled teen left a suicide note, and a trail of evidence on his computer and elsewhere that he knew the police would spend months investigating. He had done everything possible to ensure that his name would be mentioned along with other mass killers at Virginia Tech, Columbine High School and the like.

He knew that the Westroads Mall was a gun-free zone, with signs on the entrances warning people with conceal-carry permits that they may not bring their firearms into the mall. He took comfort from those signs, as he pushed through the doors carrying the stolen assault rifle.

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