Mall Shooter Spent 2 Years in Treatment

'No indication' he would launch killing spree, says official
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 9, 2007 5:32 AM CST
Mall Shooter Spent 2 Years in Treatment
Tammy Bowes, left, holds her daughter Madison Bowes, 9, as they view a makeshift memorial outside the Von Maur department store Friday, Dec. 7, 2007, in Omaha, Neb. Eight people were killed and five wounded in a shooting attack before the gunman, Robert Hawkins, took his own life Wednesday inside the...   (Associated Press)

Mall shooter Robert Hawkins spent two years in extensive care at a Nebraska home for troubled teens, where an official said there was "no indication" he would launch one of the deadliest killing rampages in American history, the New York Times reports. He spent a total of five years in juvenile services programs, costing some $265,000.

"We all cared about this child," said a state attorney of the teen who killed eight people in Omaha last week before committing suicide. "We deal with a lot of troubled children; as far as we could tell, he was no more troubled than many of them." Others say officials stopped treatment more from frustration at Hawkins' refusal to participate in drug treatment than evidence that he'd been rehabilitated. (More Omaha mall shooting stories.)

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