One year ago today, a troubled teenager walked into a mall and killed eight people and then himself. I was visiting Omaha for medical reasons and I was staying in a hotel next to the mall when the shootings happened. The tragedy had a big effect on me and so I remember it today. I remember it by looking at the email I shared with family and friends the day after the tragedy.
I remember it.
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Hello everyone.
On Tuesday, December 4, I flew to Omaha, Nebraska for my week of medical testing. I had my appointment and then went to the Westroads Mall to take a little walk & see what was in the mall. I walked through JCPenney, in front of Von Maur and all around. It’s a nice mall. I had parked my car right between Von Maur & JCPenney, the view that you keep seeing on TV.
Then I checked into my hotel, the Hampton Inn Westroads, on a little hill between Dodge Street and the mall.
Yesterday afternoon around 2pm I was talking to my Dad on the phone. I kept hearing sirens over and over and eventually thought, gee I’m hearing a lot of sirens. I came downstairs to the lobby to use the computer and see all these people crowded around the TV. I look out the window and see all the police. I sit down and log on & start looking at emails but I do not really understand what is happening. But as I start looking at emails, I am distracted by what’s on the TV. A gunman entering the mall and shooting five people, one dead. I do write a couple of emails (in a very distracted manner, send a note to Mark & my Dad and log off.
The Hampton Inn is in lockdown. No one is supposed to leave, if they do, they cannot guarantee you can get back in. A cop walks in the lobby and talks to the front desk people. Another more senior looking guy (coat & tie with a badge) comes in and says, we need to establish a family command center in this hotel. this sends the hotel managers into a flurry, getting a room ready, making sure there is coffee, etc. the police say, no media. A news reporter is in the lobby and she leaves without a fuss.
The first person to walk in the hotel is a Catholic priest. He is the police chaplain. He is an older gentleman. He goes to the window and quietly watches the scene outside. More and more police officers come in. There are also US Marshalls and sheriff deputies. Two more Catholic priests arrive–all three are wearing their chaplain jackets. One calls on his cell phone asking for more chaplains to come to the scene. The three move down to the command center room.
Family members and people who were in the mall start coming in to be reunited. Only a few at first. I am sitting in a quiet corner of the lobby watching the TV. Another guest in the hotel is with me. We quietly sit there because we are compelled to be with people-I didn’t want to go up to my room and watch this all alone.
A lady comes in with her daughter and some children. She tells the other guest that her daughter works in Von Maur on the second floor, they have not heard from her.
The first press conference starts. I turn up the TV volume and watch it with the mother, the guest and about fifteen police officers. When the sergeant says that nine people are dead and five injured, I gasp, it was much worse than we had originally thought. The sergeant says most of the dead are on the third floor, that gives the lady whose daughter works on the second floor hope.
More and more people walk into the hotel. The officers direct them to the command center room. Some come out. There is a lady sitting by herself on one of the couches. She is crying. I walk over to her and say, May I sit with you? She says yes and I hold her hand and put my arm around her. She cries and says, This is Omaha. Omaha. Omaha. It doesn’t make any sense. She says, I work on the first floor, I am waiting for my husband to pick me up. We sit together for another few minutes and I hold her hand and say many Hail Marys. Her husband walks through the door and they hug. She thanks me and they leave.
I go back to my quiet corner but the lobby is really getting crowded now. The lady waiting for her daughter gives a cry of delight–her daughter has come into the hotel and she is all right. The whole family stays in a group hug for a long long time.
There are more reunifications, more people thankful that they are alive. Many tears though. Many many tears. And I realize that I no longer belong there and I go upstairs to my room.
Just that morning, I had fallen in love with a parish in Omaha-St. Robert Bellarmine. At daily Mass, a paralyzed man named Dave had struck up a conversation with me. He prayed for me aloud during the Mass intentions and I met others after Mass who were very nice. There is a perpetual adoration chapel at the parish too and I’ve been able to make a Holy Hour every day. It made me feel very privileged to be a part of the Body of Christ. So a piece of Omaha had already captured my heart.
And today i am privileged to pray here in this town.
Thanks for listening,
in Faith,
Ann
