TheByte

Originally Posted by Jeff

Well just got back from work today, witnessed a terrible and sobering scene.

After about an hour working there(a hotel), one of the front desk girls that us valet guys hang out with a lot got a phone call. She was just informed that her father in law was gunned down yesterday at the mall. The way she completely broke down was very sobering and really made the tragedy hit home.

Originally Posted by Mikael

He had an assault rifle?!

Originally Posted by The Victims

The shooter's thin face is not the one the victims' families and friends want to see this day.

Angie Schuster, the 36-year-old beauty who loved children, her work in the girls department at Von Maur and her fiance, who planned to give her a ring for Christmas.

And Gary Joy, the 56-year-old janitor who wrote poetry and stories in his spare time.

And the fun and caring Beverly Flynn — a 47-year-old mom who gave rosebushes to her real estate clients and who worked as a gift-wrapper at Von Maur for the holidays because she loved Christmas.

And Dianne Clavin Trent, 53, who put her people skills from her years as an airline flight attendant to work as a customer service representative.

And Von Maur saleswoman Janet Jorgensen — a wife, mom and grandmother, a seamstress and cake-maker, and at age 66, the oldest person gunned down Wednesday.

And the youngest — the tall, bubbly, mature-beyond-her-24-years Maggie Webb, who had recently come to Omaha to run the store.

And the customers — kindly 65-year-old Council Bluffs retiree John McDonald and well-traveled 48-year-old ag chemical salesman Gary Scharf of Lincoln — who had the misfortune to be shopping Wednesday at what is arguably the city's most elegant department store.

In all, six Von Maur employees and two shoppers. Five women and three men. Each of them loved and deeply missed.

Omaha Police Chief Thomas Warren offered one explanation, based on store videotape, for why so many of the fallen were employees:

When the shooter first opened fire, he said, customers fled. But Von Maur employees helped shoppers to safety, and many stayed at their stations.

"I think it is important to recognize the heroism that was shown by some of the employees of Von Maur," Mayor Mike Fahey said Thursday. "They tried to do their best. . . . They stayed. Some were trying to help people."

Survivors are thinking, too, of the injured, two of them still recovering in Omaha hospitals:

The upbeat, sharp-dressing 61-year-old Fred Wilson, who always has a joke for the women he works with in customer service.

And his co-worker, 65-year-old Micheale Oldham.

And two other shoppers stung by bullets: 55-year-old Brad Stafford of Omaha and 34-year-old Omaha attorney Jeff Schaffart, who was shot on a lunch errand so many parents can relate to — finding a dress his 2-year-old could wear in Christmas photos.

Originally Posted by Jeff

These people make me sick.



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