Images of Gunman, Suicide Note Released

[fed-up]

Source: AP

..snip

Hawkins was a troubled teenager who spent four years in a series of treatment centers, group homes and foster care after threatening to kill his stepmother in 2002. He had recently broken up with a girlfriend recently and lost his job at a McDonald's.

..snip

A man who lived nearby said he went to police a month ago to report his and other parents' concerns that Hawkins and his friends had easy access to guns, sold drugs and smoked pot with an adult.

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 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.

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.

..snip

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MALL_SHOOTING?SITE=CASON&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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this is so sad, neighbors friends tried to warn police...

[harmonicon]

1. yeah, but

A lot of people had to fuck up pretty severely at parenting, schooling, etc. for it to ever get to the point where anyone would call the police even just to complain. I think this guy was an adult, but just barely.... I never understand why the parents' roles in creating these monsters is never discussed. Why/how did they get guns?!?!?!

[southerncrone]

2. Yes, parents should hold some accountability in these situations.

As a HS teacher, I see kids like this every day. This is a national crisis that no one is talking about. We have a multitude of neglected &/or abused children. Many of them are victims of their parents drug/alcohol abuse, either currently or in vitro. This spans all economic levels, not just the poor. The schools deal more with behavior & emotional problems than academics because we have so many of these children. This is one of the main reasons America's education standing has dropped so much in the last 3 decades. We are on a downward spiral, with no end in sight.

The government keeps looking at schools as the problem, when it is the parents (actually LACK of parents) that are responsible for our educational crisis. You cannot teach a child who is so emotionally screwed up that they can't concentrate or even sit still. They are a disruption to the others who do not have these problems, & too often a bad influence on them as well.

Most schools do not have the appropriate or adequate resources to deal with these troubled kids. Too often we skid by on crossed-fingers that nothing "bad" will happen while they are under our tutelage & breath a sigh of relief when they either graduate or drop-out--knowing full well that another monster has been unleashed upon society.

I'm not surprised that the police did nothing. Most jurisdictions are woefully understaffed, both the police departments & the social services agencies. You know---"get BIG govt. out of our pockets". Well, this my friends, is the outcome of that Raygun philosophy.

As our economy nose-dives from increased energy costs, lose of decent jobs to overseas outsourcing, loss of many jobs to illegal aliens, increased taxes to compensate for the ENORMOUS amount of $ the Iraq War has eaten up (with no end in sight), this situation is sure to become more common place.
People cannot take this much stress.

Somewhere in all of this, we've got to hold those who produce children accountable for their creations. Required parenting classes for those who might not be adequately prepared to take on this enormous responsibility; and removing the stigma that you are bad if you need this type of help. If you child is exhibiting troubling behaviors, then counseling should be MANDATORY & PROVIDED AT NO COST IF NECESSARY. The cost to all of us at a later date is just too great. As Omaha now knows.

[uppityperson]

3. Parents are responsible for our educational crisis?

How about affordable accessable non-stigmatic mental health care, paying teachers a decent wage, cutting out so much middle management and/or make those at top more responsible/lower paid? How about paying social service and mental health care workers and yes, even day care providers better and helping decent people be able to not burn out? Parents are responsible?

I agree that counseling should be mandatory and provided at no cost. But parents are responsible for our educational crisis?

[southerncrone]

4. All of those items you mention are also a part of the problem.

It is multi-faceted. However, children are molded in the home.

You cannot imagine how many kids tell me that they hardly ever even talk to their parents! Many are just boarders in the parent's home. The sad fact is that many kids are raising themselves. As long as the parents don't have to DO anything, all is good (if I don't look at it, then it isn't there).

Problems w/step parents are very common place. I understand this on a personal level, as I also have stepparents, but mine were OK. Many are not so lucky.

When families break-up, the kids are forced to either shuttle back & forth between the parents, leaving them with a sense of not belonging in either place; or often don't have much contact with one of their parents. Divorce has a devastating effect on children & too often that is overlooked. The courts treat them like property, not human beings. When kids demonstrate their unhappiness, then they are trotted off to the doctor for medication, when family counseling is really what is in order. The kids are expected to "adjust", while the parents drag them along as they do what they please. How often do you hear of children molested &/or abused by boyfriends or stepparents? It is happening more & more. This is the kind of stuff that creates "monsters" like Robert Hawkins. Sadly, I don't think Robert was the monster, you can tell by his writing that he was a tender, but tortured soul.

Don't get me wrong, not all of the messed up kids are from divorced families, but most are. Whenever you add more personalities into an already stressed situation, it becomes more difficult to integrate & satisfy everyone's needs. Divorce causes economic stress, as well.

My point is that America is once again in a state of denial. It is not looking at how poorly we treat our children & their problems. It is expecting the schools to "fix" these kids, as if we have a magic wand, & this is overtaking our real purpose of educating the populous.

Sadly, I predict we will see much more of this type of activity.

[uppityperson]

5. Children have their own personalities/problems also. And I disagree with a lot of your assumptions.

Do you have any children?

Children are born with their own distinct personalities and issues. Yes, how they are raised can heavily influence things, but there are kids who grow up in "wonderful" situations who are really bad apples, and those who grow up in horrendous situations who are wonderful people. Parenting matter, but so does the kid's personality/makeup.

Here are my disagreements, what assumptions you state as fact that I disagree with.

Divorce CAN have a devastating effect on children, same as living in an abusive/neglectful home with 2 biological parents. Divorce isn't the problem but how the adults act, how they get along with each other, how the kids are treated.

"When kids demonstrate their unhappiness, then they are trotted off to the doctor for medication, when family counseling is really what is in order." Sometimes true. More accessable affordable non-stigmatic mental health care is needed for kid and for parents. (note "for parents" as this is very important also).

"The kids are expected to "adjust", while the parents drag them along as they do what they please." Do you seriously believe this? That parents just drag kids along, that most parents do this?

"How often do you hear of children molested &/or abused by boyfriends or stepparents? It is happening more & more." How often do you hear of children molested &/or abused by biological fathers? This also has happened forever, is being heard about more and more as more and more people speak up, as it becomes more acceptable to tell.

I agree that "America is once again in a state of denial", that people like you belive divorce is the root of problems for kids and that parents are the root of problems with schools.

Affordable accessable non-stigmatic mental health care is needed by providers that are decent, caring, not burnt out.

[southerncrone]

7. It seems you are arguing on points we agree on.

Yes, I have 2 college-age children.

Perhaps I did not express myself clearly enough, or perhaps you should reread my post.

I am speaking from what I see in my personal experience as a teacher. Maybe my experience is different from yours. I deal with children every day in public school, & have seen an escalation in the number of troubled children. When dealing with the parents of many of these troubled kids, this has been my experience.

I do not believe that divorce is the root of problems for kids. As I stated, I went through 2 as a child. I am thankful my mother extradited us from an abusive situation. However, I DO believe that it is problematic not only for the parties involved, but that it has fall-out in other areas of society. This is something that we as a nation need to look at & address.

[davidinalameda]

6. is it necessary to release stuff like this?

do we really need to see the photos of the mall or read his note?

sensationalism at its worst

[fushuugi]

8. no kidding...

...just disgusting.