Robert Hawkins Was Nineteen
by Hajja Romi
Robert Hawkins was 19 years old, some news reports say twenty. By most
accounts, he was a troubled young man. He was quiet, and I guess you could say
he was a loser. He got picked on a lot, several people have said.
Everybody also agrees that he had just lost his job. His parents had thrown
him out of the house, and he had just broken up with his girlfriend.
A young man with few hopes, little to live for.
Eight people are dead in a Nebraska mall. Robert shot them. Then, he turned
the gun on himself and committed suicide.
Before I go any further, I want to say that I am truly sorry for him and the
people he ruthlessly shot in cold blood, some at point blank range. He has
caused grief that will never go away for the families of his victims, and for
the city of Omaha.
Prior to Shooting, Mall Security Officers Noticed Gunman 06 Dec 2007 A
troubled young man who opened fire in an Omaha shopping mall Wednesday had
attracted the attention of mall security officers when he first entered the
complex, but he carried out his shooting spree 'before they could react,'
police said Thursday. The gunman, Robert A. Hawkins, 19, entered the Westroads
Mall with an assault rifle concealed under a hooded sweatshirt, took an
elevator to the third floor and began shooting shoppers and employees at
random, Omaha Police Chief Thomas Warren told a news conference. He said
Hawkins fired more than 30 rounds from an AK-47 assault rifle. ~ CLG
But I have yet to see a report that calls him a suicide killer.
I have seen interviews on the news with witnesses from the mall who were
sobbing.
Obviously they were frightened, traumatized.
But nobody has called him a terrorist.
Nobody has said he was an American terrorist, although obviously he is an
American and he terrorized.
Most likely he comes from a Christian background, but nobody has called him a
Christian terrorist.
Yet, he has so many things in common with people we call terrorists who come
from places far away from us.
He had lost everything. Just like peaceful farmers in Deir Yassin or
hundreds of other villages in a land coveted by someone else.
He was picked on. Just refugees, forced to flee from one "host" country
another.
A newsman on ABC interviewed the woman who took him in after his family had
kicked him out. He was sympathetic to the woman, and never once condemned
Robert Hawkins for terrorism.
Never once blamed his upbringing or his culture for his actions. He was just
a troubled young man.
A refugee who got kicked out of the house.
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