OMAHA, Neb. - With extra security on hand and holiday shoppers waiting at the doors, the Westroads Mall reopened Saturday morning, three days after a gunman killed eight people and himself at the mall’s Von Maur store.
A makeshift memorial of flowers, notes and poems covered about two-thirds of the bottom steps of the entrance gunman Robert Hawkins used to enter the Von Maur department store. On display were eight foam snowflakes, each with a picture of a victim.
The store, however, remained closed. Yellow holiday lights brightened the exterior, but black tarps draped the inside of the doors. Wreaths sat on tripods just outside, and a note from management said the stOutside the mall, two Red Cross vans and a Salvation Army unit were set up near the food court entrance.
Early shoppers faced wind chill temperatures of only two degrees above zero before trickling into the food court or the mall proper, as retailers started raising their security gates at 8 a.m.
Marge Andrews, 49, said there was a very different feeling in the mall Saturday compared to her regular walks there with a friend. She and her husband John, 51, had come to buy sporting goods for their son and clothes for their daughter.
“I come out here almost every morning, and (today) it was kind of just an eerie feeling of, I don’t know, quiet,” said Andrews.
“It doesn’t feel like a Christmas feeling,” her husband said.
Also Saturday, Hawkins' family released a statement in which they said they hope the community can heal.
"The Hawkins family extends its sincerest condolences to all those impacted by this senseless and horrible event," the statement read. "While no words can ease the pain and grief, our family prays that at some time, in some way, our community can be healed in the aftermath of this terrible tragedy." ore will reopen soon. No date was given.
A makeshift memorial of flowers, notes and poems covered about two-thirds of the bottom steps of the entrance gunman Robert Hawkins used to enter the Von Maur department store. On display were eight foam snowflakes, each with a picture of a victim.
The store, however, remained closed. Yellow holiday lights brightened the exterior, but black tarps draped the inside of the doors. Wreaths sat on tripods just outside, and a note from management said the stOutside the mall, two Red Cross vans and a Salvation Army unit were set up near the food court entrance.
Early shoppers faced wind chill temperatures of only two degrees above zero before trickling into the food court or the mall proper, as retailers started raising their security gates at 8 a.m.
Marge Andrews, 49, said there was a very different feeling in the mall Saturday compared to her regular walks there with a friend. She and her husband John, 51, had come to buy sporting goods for their son and clothes for their daughter.
“I come out here almost every morning, and (today) it was kind of just an eerie feeling of, I don’t know, quiet,” said Andrews.
“It doesn’t feel like a Christmas feeling,” her husband said.
Also Saturday, Hawkins' family released a statement in which they said they hope the community can heal.
"The Hawkins family extends its sincerest condolences to all those impacted by this senseless and horrible event," the statement read. "While no words can ease the pain and grief, our family prays that at some time, in some way, our community can be healed in the aftermath of this terrible tragedy." ore will reopen soon. No date was given.
0 comments:
Post a Comment