Gunman opens fire in a US mall, kills 8 and himself

Omaha (Nebraska): A man with a rifle opened fire at a busy department store Wednesday, killing eight people before taking his own life, in an attack that sent holiday shoppers running and screaming through an Omaha mall. Five more people were wounded.

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

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

''My knees rocked. I didn't know what to do, so I just ran with everybody else,'' said Kevin Kleine, 29, who was shopping with her 4-year-old daughter at the Westroads Mall, in a prosperous neighborhood on the city's west side. She said she hid in a dressing room with four other shoppers and an employee.

Sgt Teresa Negron said the gunman killed eight people, and then apparently killed himself. His name was not immediately released, and authorities gave no motive for the attack and did not know whether he said anything during the rampage.

Police received an emergency call from someone inside the mall, and shots could be heard in the background, Negron said. By the time officers arrived six minutes later, the shooting was over, she said.

A witness, Shawn Vidlak, said he heard four or five rapid shots ''like a nail gun.'' At first he thought it was noise from construction work going on at the mall.

''People started screaming about gunshots,'' Vidlak said. ''I grabbed my wife and kids we got out of there as fast as we could.''

Shortly after the shooting, which came three weeks before Christmas, a group of shoppers came out of the building with their hands raised. Some were still holding shopping bags.

US President George W Bush was in town Wednesday for a fundraiser in Omaha, but left about an hour before the shooting.

The sprawling, three-level mall has more than 135 stores and restaurants, according to the Web site for General Growth Properties, the manager of the mall. It gets 14.5 million visitors every year, according to the Web site.