Gunmen shoot up mall here in town...

bassturtle · #1 12-05-2007, 02:54 PM

This one's a little close to home

http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/12163196.html

wdinc01 · #2 12-05-2007, 03:18 PM

My god, that's terrible. Even worse is I probably won't hear a thing about it on the news here.

bassturtle · #3 12-05-2007, 03:41 PM

Right now they're saying that there at least 9 dead. 5 more are being treated for wounds. Looks like the gunman killed himself, but they're still keeping some folks inside until they can get it sorted out and make sure there are no other shooters. Apearently the guy was here from my county...hopefully not someone I know

Mark Latimour · #4 12-05-2007, 03:42 PM

It says the shooter was 19 years old and left a suicide note saying "I'm going out in style".

bassturtle · #5 12-05-2007, 03:45 PM

Atoz · #6 12-05-2007, 05:13 PM

Sorry to hear the news. Same thing happened here in my town about 9 months ago.

bassturtle · #7 12-05-2007, 10:15 PM

So far it looks like there are 9 dead (5 women and 3 men) plus the shooter and 5 wounded (2 in critical condition) making it worst mall shooting in the US. The shooter was an angry 19 year old kid. He left a suicide note basically saying that he wanted to go out in style and be famous.

Really sad

spade2you · #8 12-05-2007, 10:35 PM

Yup. My mom was at that same exact store earlier in the afternoon before the shooter arrived. Talk about too close to home! Can't sleep tonight thinking how things could have been really bad if she left later.

bassturtle · #9 12-05-2007, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spade2you

Yup. My mom was at that same exact store earlier in the afternoon before the shooter arrived. Talk about too close to home! Can't sleep tonight thinking how things could have been really bad if she left later.

No kidding. I was just informed that my friend's brother was shot in the arm. He made a makeshift tourniquet with his neck tie and hid until the cops showed up. You know as well as I do that Omaha isn't a huge town. I'm really scared that as soon as they reveal the victim's names that there's gonna be some people we know on that list.

bassturtle · #10 12-05-2007, 11:15 PM

So we have the worst mass slaying at a mall in US history and there are a total of 5 posters? I guess we need to talk more about the chick who posted her bewbs on here

Atoz · #11 12-05-2007, 11:40 PM

Spade - Glad to hear you Mom wasn't involved. Turtle - hope your friend's bro is OK.

When this same thing happened in my town (SLC, UT) several months back (turned out to be a 17 year-old kid who was killed by the police after shooting 7(?) and killing 5), it messed up the community for a while. We're not the biggest town, either - I'm glad no one I know was involved. The mall here was just down the street from my house. I had been in there a couple of days earlier eating dinner right where the guy was shooting. Scary.

I wonder what gets into these people where they want to end their lives, but feel the need to take innocent people with them?

Jared Lash · #12 12-06-2007, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atoz

I wonder what gets into these people where they want to end their lives, but feel the need to take innocent people with them?

That's something I've never understood either. In school shootings, the motive is often explained away as "they wanted to strike back at kids who tormented them", but it isn't as if they go after specific targets. They just start indiscriminately shooting.

And most of them desire the posthumous infamy that accompanies their crimes. None of it makes any sense to me.

Jared Lash · #13 12-06-2007, 12:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassturtle

So we have the worst mass slaying at a mall in US history and there are a total of 5 posters? I guess we need to talk more about the chick who posted her bewbs on here

It's a hard topic to discuss.

Every time there is a school shooting, or any other mass slaying, the conversations have nowhere to go.

We can argue about why they occur. We can argue about why they are happening at a much higher rate than ever before, and why so many of the shooters are now teenagers. We can try to come up with ways to prevent them and how much of the blame goes to the parents. We can even have another long discussion about America and its "gun culture".

But at the end of the day, there's nothing of substance to say except that it's another horrible tragedy and to hope there's more time between them this time.

sensible68 · #14 12-06-2007, 03:25 AM

It really saddens me when these terrible events happen - they get quite a high profile over here.

I see that the supreme court is looking into the issue of gun ownership in the states next year. But I doubt that anything will happen when the NRA gets into gear.

manicbassman · #15 12-06-2007, 05:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassturtle

No kidding. I was just informed that my friend's brother was shot in the arm. He made a makeshift tourniquet with his neck tie and hid until the cops showed up. You know as well as I do that Omaha isn't a huge town. I'm really scared that as soon as they reveal the victim's names that there's gonna be some people we know on that list.

your friend's brother just made the BBC website and probably an awful lot of other world news reports:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7130504.stm

(I'll mask his name in here...)

Quote:

Mr. S was shot in the arm as he spent his lunch break shopping with his wife, Reuters news agency reported. He said he hid in a Von Maur women's bathroom, using his tie as a tourniquet to slow the bleeding.

"I was obviously very fortunate. Not a lot of people were so fortunate today," said Mr S.

**Vorago** · #16 12-06-2007, 05:40 AM

Really sad, not exclusively American either, a sick bastard shot 3 people in Antwerp last year, including a 4 year old

He decided to 'go out in style' as well, luckily, a cop shot him in the stomache and he got sentenced to life long jail time.

Veel sterkte Bassturtle!

Baryonyx · #17 12-06-2007, 05:46 AM

What is wrong with these people going on these suicidal rampages? Is that really what modern life is driving people to?

Diggler · #18 12-06-2007, 06:05 AM

Here's why.

Nowadays, from the time kids are born, they are told a-la-Mr. Rogers style, "you're special just for being you." They are told how great they are without having to actually accomplish anything. They are given a bunch of false self-esteem.

You can't give self-esteem; a person has to earn it.

Then, they are offered the views and sometimes even take classes on the idea of situational ethics. Who is to say what is right, and what is wrong? He's the most important person in the world, and if something bad happens to him and he wants to punish people, he should be able to do it!

Finally, we are now in a culture where everyone wants to be famous. So, we have someone who has a false sense of overblown self-worth, who has embraced a morality that takes the position that there is no morality... that everyone can make their own morality... and the guy wants to be famous.

Mix ingredients equally, allow stew to simmer. Serves "justice."

Might not be exactly what happened in this case, but I bet it's pretty close.

Baryonyx · #19 12-06-2007, 06:07 AM

I don't see why they feel it acceptable to "wrong" innocent people in this way.

Diggler · #20 12-06-2007, 06:16 AM

They don't see them as innocent. They think it's the world-against-them, and since they can decide what's right and wrong, they don't see anything wrong with taking it out on them.