This one is starting to stink to high heaven:
www.omaha.com...
—At 1:42 p.m. Wednesday, 911 operators received the first call about shots fired at Von Maur, Warren said. The first Omaha police officers were dispatched two minutes later and arrived at 1:48 p.m. Warren said the two minutes were used to verify the address and callers’ information, which is normal procedure.
[Comment: Phew! That was a close one! If they had been dispatched immediately they could have been confronted by the living gunman! Luckily, they got there just as he died. Apparently frantic 911 calls falsely reporting a gunman firing at the mall are a regular occurence in Omaha.]
This is getting better and better:
AP 12-7-07
Police did not release video of the shooting, but released a still image from the tape that showed Hawkins with his sleeves rolled up, aiming the AK-47 to fire in front of a store mannequin. The photos appear to contradict earlier reports that the gunman had a military-style haircut and entered the mall wearing a camouflage vest.
[...uh.... two shooters?]
“I’ve just snapped” Hawkins wrote in his suicide note.
[Well, that explains everything. No need to question further.]
(Kevin)Harrington, 45, said he told police in Bellevue about a month ago that one of Hawkins’ friends offered to sell Valium to his 13-year-old son. Harrington said he also told police that Hawkins had previously shot at a car during a drug deal gone bad. “We told them about the drugs, we told them about the guns, and nothing was done,” Harrington said.
Bellevue police said the house where Hawkins lived is in an unincorporated part of the city and not in their jurisdiction. Police Chief John Stacey would not talk about Kevin Harrington’s complaint, but said normally officers pass complaints from that neighborhood onto the Sarpy County Sheriff. Sheriff’s officials said they never received the complaint.
[Pass that buck! Oh yeah, you can bet the cops knew all about this guy.]