RSSSENSELESS … Nebraska Mall Shooting Massacre (Robert A. Hawkins)
JUST SIMPLY SENSELESS
Nothing that occurs is life should ever result in such actions to cause death. NOTHING! This troubled teen wanted to go out in style … instead he went out as a coward killing innocent people.
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20 Responses to “SENSELESS … Nebraska Mall Shooting Massacre (Robert A. Hawkins)”
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Did this kid have grenades? News had mentioned he may have had grenades?
Picking people off from a balcony?
Coward and deranged. What has happened that these kids that they feel killing innocent people who you don’t even know and who are not armed, is going out in style?
When these kids get the urge to kill, maybe we can arrange for some sort of skrimish with green berets and special ops soldiers. Then we can level the playing field.
Sniper and Grenades, um does anyone know if this kid played too many videos games?
To say there was something wrong with this kids thinking would be a vast understatement. Lots of people are depressed, split with girlfriends, get fired from jobs, etc….; but I do not think they contemplate a shooting rampage or suicide over such events. IMO, this young mans family, friends, and peers must have missed, or been oblivious to some indications that he needed help earlier on in his teen years.
To those affected by this senseless shooting, I hope you can still find some blessings and peace during this Holiday season, although the pain you feel over this I am sure is much to bear.
What is wrong with people? How can the woman he was living with not think anything was strange when he showed her the weapon the night before? Hello…how many normal people would be flashing a weapon…clearly a warning signal. I am not directly blaming her afterall it sounds like she was helping him by allowing him to live there but come on. I read that when he first came to live there he would lie in a fetal position and bite his nails. How many teenagers do this? There definitely must be more to his past.
My thoughts and prayers go out to all the innocent victims and their friends and families.
#1 Funhy you should mention video games. When all the hype about teen violence due to video games game out, I thought it was BS. But then a little over a year ago I was stuck at home with an injury for about a week and spent most of that week, I’m almost ashamed to admit, playing Grand Theft Auto. It gave me something to do while I was stuck on the couch and I did enjoy ramming into other cars and running over cartoon people. But the strange thing is that when I was able to get up and around and started driving again, I had a strange urge to drive fast and ram my car into other cars. Of course I didn’t act on those impulses because I’m a mature adult and not on drugs. BUT, I could every easily see how a teenager on drugs after playing violent video games could easily confuse game playing and reality. My son was quite upset with me when the came home to find half of his video games had disappeared.
da-wench
I could be wrong and prolly am, I am not implying it would be the video games responsibility. I admit I play a online game, that I am fond of, but some of the other players take it so seriously, it is frightening.
Damn Da_wench…you have posted something that I find unbelievably interesting AND agree with!!
When my kids first wanted Nintendo…I refused to let them play anything violent. The got Mario Paint and Donkey Kong, etc. Once they turned 16& 14 (got 2 so it was hard to let one and not the other) I DID allow the wrestling game. By the time my daughter turned 18, she purchased some violent games and played with her younger brother (16). That said…by nature since they were not used to violence, they would set the game to use tranquilizers/stunning. I was very, proud of them since I did not request this at all.
At least neither of them have the slightest interest in Grand Theft Auto (not cutting you down, but talking about my own kids). Now at almost 18 and 23 years old, they still play and use the stunning or tranquilizing setting. My son hunts with my hubby and tells me he “feels bad” killing the deer…this year he had a shot and didn’t take it. Fine with me. (Upset his dad though :>)
I agree with you Da_wench..those games can and sometimes do effect us without knowing it.
Our subconscious is a dangerous thing to mess with whether we know it or not.
Sniper and Grenades, um does anyone know if this kid played too many videos games?
…
#1
Miss U,
I think they said that was one of his
favorite things to do! Stay in his room,
smoke THE CHRONIC, and play video games.
How much do u wanna bet me they were violent
sniper/shoot ‘em up ones?
Carpe,
I think there are some people, not all, that have a very hard time decifering reality. Even more so when a blunt is in the mix.
So why’d the foster mom, let him smoke weed in her house?
Big no no. BTW, I see alot gamers with CHRONIC in their nic.
#4: You can blame it on the video games, I know that people will get a higher level of adrenaline with games like GTA. After playing GTA you had easy access to your car and drive fast (caused by the adrenaline). Robert was furious about his job and relationship. He could use an AK-47 gun too easy and caused this tragedy. Children should never be able to use weapons.
As a society we should address why this phenomenon is so common in the US. Other developed countries are more community oriented in their school systems as well as their neighborhoods. It does take a village to raise children because alot of children don’t have the advantages they would with parents that are sane, drug and alcohol free, and that truely love/care for them properly. The parents (I am guessing they fall into one of the afore mentioned catagories) should be accountable to support their prodigy monetarily and the government should be responsible to place them with good parent role models. AND CHECK ON THEM! They are god’s gift to “ALL” of us.
Dear FL…gotta disagree that children should never be able to use a weapon. We live in the mountains of Virginia. Our kids both started learning how to use a rifle at 4 and 5 years old respectively. My son killed his first deer at age 11 (but used a bow). My daughter (now 23) has lost all interest, but my son (17) still loves to shoot his bow and rifle at targets although he has lost interest in shooting at deer/living targets. I am fine with that.
I notice that kids who are facinated by weaponry are not raised to appreciate and respect them as deadly pieces of machinery. MOre people injured on their tractors or other farm equipement by FAR around here than by a fire arm. Where our mountain land is, our neighbors’ kids are allowed to wear a sidearm in the woods because of the bear and coyote problem (I mean, coyote coming onto our porches to tear up garbage and not backing down when you go out to shoo them away.)
Yet I do agree that unstable kids should not have open access to them…but that is basic common sense. No different than allowing a new driver to have a fast Mustang or something. They don’t understand the danger. If kids aren’t raised around them, yes…guns are a hugh danger to them due to lack of knowledge.
We received death threats from an unstable adult just this October. It was really scary at first. The guy threatened to either shoot us from a distance (his exact words were “I’ll be sure you leave your property in a body bag), and/or shoot at our propane tanks with a rifle. Can you EVEN imagine how hard it was to hand my son a loaded .38 and tell him to shoot that guy if he came into the house while we were at the jail taking out a warrant? Soon as we got home, he was waiting at the door to hand it back because (in his words) he was creeped out.
Gotta look at each situation as it comes. The shooter in this case did NOT have any business near a gun, but no one could have really known that.
Brenda
This kid did this because he mental problems. Pretty obvious. He was not getting the care or meds he needed so he self medicated, but with the wrong drugs. Someone could have and should have done something for him a long time ago and this could have been avoided. Everyone that knew him recognized he had problems, but who did anything to help him? Now innocent people are dead for no good reason. Wake up people, dont ignore people like him and expect them to just go away. The longer we do nothing to help them the longer they have to fall apart. These people need to be taken off the streets until they recieve proper treatment. No-one deserves to die like that, and I pray in Jesus’ name that God will rest thier souls and give strength to those affected by this senceless act.
Quit making excuses for the idiot. Yeah he had mental problems but sounds to me like no meds could have helped this sicko!! Let’s face it there are some people out there that don’t think normally and never will. He deserves to burn in Hell for what he did. We should thank God he is no longer here. I just wished he hadn’t taken the coward way out after all the destruction he has caused innocent people and let Bubba take care of him in prison!!
Dear Sick of Them,
I cannot find, no matter how I try, where anyone on this board either made an excuse for this kid’s actions, nor that prescribed drugs alone would have helped him. What I’m reading is that he did not get the help he needed, which was (IMO) emotional help. To me, mental and emotional issues those 2 are so closely tied together they cannot be separated except in a small number of cases such as a mentally retarded person or one with a serious brain injury.
The kid took illegal drugs to numb his pain which in almost all cases only has adverse effects.
As for burning in hell, be careful about what I say in that respect. If you believe in heaven and hell as you seem to, the Bible says to judge not least we be judged. I doubt this boy is going to fair very well on judgement day, but it is not our place to stand in God’s “shoes” and say this or that about it. There is enough pain over senseless loss of life….both for the victims’ families and the shooter’s family.
As my broken record of posting continues…I live very, near to VA Tech. Pass it twice a day on my way to work and back. Many of the students and staff on campus are either friends of mine or my kids…as well as the children of fellow co-workers. General concensus around here is that although what happened is inexusable, we ALL feel badly for what Cho was going through re: mental anguish to be able to carry out such a deadly act. We also feel all the more saddened for those who lost loved ones. Most have forgiven him and there is a rock garden created on campus with one each bearing the name of those who were killed. Interestingly enough, there is also one there for Cho. It is off to the side and has been removed by those unknown several times, but it is replaced each time. I am proud I live in a community that can mourn and also forgive.
Society is a great big mess all over the world. We whine and cry over guns…but what is better? If our killers start strapping bombs on themselves and blowing up crowds of people as we see happeneing elsewhere? My hubby and I used to own 2 SKS rifles, but after a couple of years realized we had no business keeping them and got rid of them…opting for better quality hunting rifles. Those assault rifles are NASTY business, let me tell you. We would shoot at trees to see “what they could do” and those damn things sent the bullets ALL THE WAY THROUGH oaks and maples less than a foot thick. I would rather be hit with a .357. Being a very, good shot myself, I WILL say THIS…we can thank our lucky stars that boy was obviously NOT very familiar with the firearm and not a very, good shot. If he fired dozens of rounds and only killed 8, he was firing without good aim unlike Cho who had been practicing ALOT at local firing ranges and elsewhere in our VERY rural area.
That said, this could have been much worse. I do not know anyone I think could do this myself, but I know many hunters and I promise you that if any of them took to mind to carry out such a plan, they’d not have missed much of what they aimed at. (God..I’d hate to be running from my own husband if he were after me…I’d not have a chance in hell no matter what I did. Won’t happen though :>)
In closing, I will say I totally agree that turning our heads from those who are in such mental anguish is calling for disaster one way or another. Some folks drown their sorrows in a bottle of whatever. Consequence could very, well be killing someone while driving drunk. Others may wind up molesting kids if badly abused. Some could end up in a life of crime and drugs…dealing and never knowing who dies of an overdose due to the illegal substances sold through their own hand.
So…this stuff is sensationalized when the problem is many-faceted and sadly quite common.
The whole situation is really sad for all parties involved. I couldn’t imagine how it would feel to go my whole life feeling like a screw up and a worthless piece of sh!t. When you don’t care about yourself it becomes harder to care about the life of others. I would imagine he was numb to anyone of his victims feelings. Whatever glory he claims doesn’t matter. It’s obvious there was a scared boy there. Not strong enough to go through life.
I can’t even begin to understand the emotions the victims families are feeling. It sucks that many of them will be stuck with anger and rage from something that was out of their control. This will be a long healing process, no doubt. And I hope each person effected by it comes to term with it.
And for the parents of Robert Hawkins. As a parent, I know I would feel personally responsible and feel that I could have raised him better. I could have loved him more and given encouragement in life.
For the love of god… Stop blaming video games for every shooting incident that happens. Some people are just messed up.
Scott, just as with “Sick of them” you are totally incorrect in your assessment of what is being said. A poster mentioned how she felt after playing a specific game and it was NOTED that the shooter also was enticed with such games. No one is blaming the games in total, but having a fixation on such a game does show a tendency towards violence.
Hey, if only games were the issue, how do we explain suicide bombers? Do they play “Blow up your Neighbor” on PlayStation in the middle east? I seriously doubt it.
How about you read and think more carefully and post something of substance rather than simply attack? Don’t you realize that when a person only attacks another individual it means they have NO IDEAS??
I’m so glad we live here & we are all entitled to our own beliefs & opinions, though I have to admit that some people here have decided to play judge & jury. I in no-way condone what Robert Hawkins did and my heart goes out to the people he killed their families & to Robert himself & to his family & to those who truly knew him. Working at McDonalds may not have ment much to some people here, but to Robert working at McDonalds he was proving something to himself. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to feel unwanted & worthless starting at such a young age, and & feel that until ANY OF US have walked in Roberts shoes we will never know either. I don’t believe Robert was worthless, I don’t believe he was a burden…..Robert Hawkins was a human being, a child suffering with allot of pain & knew of no ohter way of how to deal with it.
This country spends millions to help children in other countries, yet all I’ve heard from Mr. Todd Landry is the money that was spent on Robert?? Are you kidding! Yet this country doesn’t think twice about helping kids in other countries with NO LIMIT attached to the cost, yet the government & those working for State Facilities will gripe when we spend money on our own children.
I can only hope & believe that Roberts soul is at peace & that God will have forgiven him & acceptance….
To -> Sick Of Them……It’s because of people like you that our young adults go out & do the things they do. It’s people like you that cause our young adults to feel the way Robert Hawkins felt. Not one of us here can say how we would feel or what we would have done had we walked in Roberts shoes & felt the way he did. As I said before I do NOT condone what Robert did, but I believe last Wednesdays tragedy happend for a reason. It’s time that us as a society stopped & gave ALLOT of thought to the message we send our children, when we turn them away, at a time they need us the most.
@Brenda
I am not attacking anyone. I am just simply stating that I’m growing tired of seeing the words “video games” make their way into every discussion regarding shootings.
One instance of person simply being “messed up” is this blog posting at Penny Arcade.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/2007/02/21
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