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Mall Shooter Spent 2 Years in Treatment

Posted Dec 9, 07 5:32 AM CST in Crime & Courts,  US 

(Newser) – Mall shooter Robert Hawkins spent two years in extensive care at a Nebraska home for troubled teens, where an official said there was "no indication" he would launch one of the deadliest killing rampages in American history, the New York Times reports. He spent a total of five years in juvenile services programs, costing some $265,000.

"We all cared about this child," said a state attorney of the teen who killed eight people in Omaha last week before committing suicide. "We deal with a lot of troubled children; as far as we could tell, he was no more troubled than many of them." Others say officials stopped treatment more from frustration at Hawkins' refusal to participate in drug treatment than evidence that he'd been rehabilitated.

Source New York Times

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    Dec 8, 07 12:35 PM CST
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Tammy Bowes, left, holds her daughter Madison Bowes, 9, as they view a makeshift memorial outside the Von Maur department store Friday, Dec. 7, 2007, in Omaha, Neb. Eight people were killed and five wounded...   (Associated Press)
This image taken from a video surveillance camera and released by the Omaha Police Department Friday Dec. 7, 2007 shows gunman Robert A. Hawkins inside the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Neb. Wednesday Dec....   (Associated Press)
An unidentified person places a candle during a memorial ceremony for the victims of the Westroads Mall shooting in Omaha, Neb., held at Creighton University in Omaha, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007. Eight people...   (Associated Press)
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murder  • suicide  • shooting  • Nebraska  • Omaha mall shooting  • Robert Hawkins  • juveniles


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