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Omaha Police now say at least 9 people were killed in the Omaha mall shooting. They now say the gunman is dead, too. CNN and Fox confirm the police have confirmed that number. A majority of the victims are said to be in the Von Maur department store.

Stand by…

UPDATE: The AP has issued a correction, saying 9 people are dead, including the shooter.

UPDATE (5:28PM): 2 people are in critical condition in area hospitals. One was earlier reported by a hospital spokeswoman to have an open chest wound. 14 people in total are reported to have been injured. Westroads Mall is the busiest mall in Nebraska. The shooter killed himself.

One report says 7 were killed on the scene, with two dying later. That’s not confirmed, AFAIK.

UPDATE (5:43PM): Point blank range?

Police had few details of the shooting, but witnesses said the gunman shot one man in the head from a third-floor balcony of the Westroads Mall and others were shot at point-blank range.

Police arrived at the mall, which was crowded with shoppers, and encountered victim after victim, though it was not clear when the gunman killed himself, police Sgt. Teresa Negron told reporters.

Negron said most of the victims were shot inside one department store and that the motive for the rampage was still being investigated.

“There was breaking glass … it was horrible, just horrible,” one woman told KETV in Omaha, saying she hid under a clothes rack when the shooting started.

Another witness said she heard someone shout, “It’s a gunman, run!” and saw bullet casings cascading off the mall balcony.

UPDATE (6:00PM): Fox and others report the shooter left a suicide note saying “I’m going out in style”. Disgusting.

UPDATE (6:03PM): WOWT:

Police recovered a rifle believed to have been used by the killer.

Channel 6 News has confirmed that a 19-year-old Sarpy County man left a suicide note this afternoon stating, “I’m going out in style.”

That man’s vehicle was found in the mall parking lot.

UPDATE (6:23): Fox News:

The gunman was found dead on the third floor of the Von Maur store with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and his victims were discovered on the second and third floors, police said.

Witnesses said the gunman fired down on shoppers from a third-floor balcony of the Von Maur store.

UPDATE (6:28PM): The suspect has been identified as 19-year-old Robert Hawkins of Bellevue.

Hawkins, 19, had been arrested on a couple of misdemeanors in November and was due in court this month. One charge included minor in possession.

Sarpy County deputies are getting a warrant to search Hawkins’ home in Quail Creek.