Shooter: 'Now I'll be famous'

Robert A. Hawkins, 19, left a suicide note in which he said he wouldn't be a burden on his family anymore and that "now I'll be famous," authorities said.

Officials gave no motive for why he opened fire at an Omaha mall. But people who knew him said he had been fired from his job at a McDonald's this week after he was accused of stealing $17. Two weeks ago he broke up with his longtime girlfriend.

Surgical nurse Debora Maruca said she and her husband took in Hawkins after her 17- and 19-year-old sons befriended him. She said Hawkins, who earned a GED after dropping out of Papillion-La Vista High School, had been living with them for a little more than a year after he was kicked out of his house.

"When he first came in the house, he was introverted, a troubled young man who was like a lost pound puppy that nobody wanted," she said. "He was very thankful for everything. He wasn't a violent person."

She said she saw victims being brought in Nebraska Medical Center where she works. By then, she had read a suicide note Hawkins left in which he said he wanted to "go out in style." "I had a feeling it could be him," she said.

She said Hawkins called her about 1 p.m., telling her he had left a note for her in his bedroom. She tried to get him to explain, but he hung up, she said.

Less than an hour later, the shooting began.