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Gun Hawkins used came from ex-stepdad’s closet
By PAUL HAMMEL, Omaha World-Herald
12/13/2007
That is what allowed Robert Hawkins to take the AK-47-style assault rifle he used last week in the rapid-fire slayings of eight people at the Westroads, his former stepfather said Wednesday.
Mark Dotson said his ex-wife was staying at his southwest Bellevue house with their two daughters when she invited Hawkins, her son, over for dinner. It was the night before the Westroads shootings.
Dotson, who was in Thailand on a vacation with a girlfriend, said Hawkins took his rifle from a closet when his ex-wife left with the girls to buy a birthday present at Wal-Mart. They were gone an hour, he said.
When Dotson’s ex-wife, Maribel “Molly” Rodriguez, returned, Hawkins abruptly ended a session on the Internet, said goodbye and “plenty of I-love-yous” and left.
“After the fact, she thought she could have read something into that,” said Dotson of the mother. “She feels horrible.”
A day after attending the private burial of her son, Rodriguez was in New York, her ex-husband said. Reached by telephone Wednesday night, Rodriguez declined to comment.
Part of an interview with Rodriguez by ABC News aired Wednesday might. Her account of the evening spent with her son matched Dotson’s. She said she’s “thinking now that my life is over.”
“I’m sorry, so sorry,” she said. “Please forgive me and please forgive my little Robert.”
The comments from Rodriguez and Dotson, their first since the Dec. 5 shootings, shed light on how Hawkins obtained the gun used in Nebraska’s deadliest single shooting incident.
According to Dotson, Hawkins knew that weapons were stored in a bedroom closet at Dotson’s house. So before he left for Thailand on Nov. 24, Dotson hid the handguns usually stored in that closet.
Dotson said he left a black AK-47-style rifle in the closet so that his ex-wife could protect herself and the girls against intruders.
The couple divorced 11 years ago, he said, but had sustained a relationship for the sake of their children.
Dotson said he never imagined that his former stepson would do harm to himself or others with the guns, but he didn’t trust him enough to leave the handguns out.
“He’s 19. . . . I just thought it would be better to not leave them in my closet,” Dotson said.
Because of Hawkins’ previous brushes with the law — for fighting at school, possession of alcohol and sale of marijuana — Dotson had kept the boy away from his weapons, he said. Dotson did recall going target shooting with him once more than a decade ago.
Dotson said the night before the Westroads slayings, Hawkins told his mother that he had lost his job at McDonald’s — an account that differs from previous statements that Hawkins was fired the morning of the slayings.
Despite losing his job, Hawkins didn’t appear distraught or upset, just “neutral,” his former stepfather said. He told his half sisters that he couldn’t get them discounts anymore because he lost his McDonald’s job, and he searched the Internet with his mother for job openings.
“That hardly seems like the act of someone in despair or someone who is suicidal,” Dotson said.
Hawkins’ mother, Dotson said, left the home for an hour with the two daughters. She discovered the rifle missing later that night, Dotson said, and sent him an e-mail in Thailand, saying that “the black gun is missing” and to “call me right away.”
She told ABC News that she thought Hawkins planned to sell or pawn the gun.
Dotson said that when he finally checked his e-mails, he misunderstood the message and reassured his ex-wife: “Don’t worry, I put all the pistols out of sight.”
The return e-mail to his ex-wife, he said, probably didn’t arrive until about the same time she was being shown two suicide notes and a will left by Hawkins at the home where he had been living, about a mile away.
Dotson said his ex-wife immediately alerted law enforcement. She brought the notes to the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office about 30 minutes after the start of the shooting spree, unaware of what had happened.
“Even then, there was no indication that he was going to do this,” Dotson said, referring to the mall massacre.
Rodriguez told ABC News she learned that her son was the gunman three hours later.
She said he had left voice mail for her earlier that day: “Mommy, I love you. I’m sorry. I will talk to you later.”
Dotson, who is a contractor who travels for his job, said he learned of the Westroads shootings and his former stepson’s involvement by watching CNN in Thailand.
He said he took the first flight he could get back to Nebraska.
“I spent 24 hours of traveling wondering what we could have done differently.”
Gun Hawkins used came from ex-stepdad’s closet
By PAUL HAMMEL, Omaha World-Herald
12/13/2007
That is what allowed Robert Hawkins to take the AK-47-style assault rifle he used last week in the rapid-fire slayings of eight people at the Westroads, his former stepfather said Wednesday.
Mark Dotson said his ex-wife was staying at his southwest Bellevue house with their two daughters when she invited Hawkins, her son, over for dinner. It was the night before the Westroads shootings.
Dotson, who was in Thailand on a vacation with a girlfriend, said Hawkins took his rifle from a closet when his ex-wife left with the girls to buy a birthday present at Wal-Mart. They were gone an hour, he said.
When Dotson’s ex-wife, Maribel “Molly” Rodriguez, returned, Hawkins abruptly ended a session on the Internet, said goodbye and “plenty of I-love-yous” and left.
“After the fact, she thought she could have read something into that,” said Dotson of the mother. “She feels horrible.”
A day after attending the private burial of her son, Rodriguez was in New York, her ex-husband said. Reached by telephone Wednesday night, Rodriguez declined to comment.
Part of an interview with Rodriguez by ABC News aired Wednesday might. Her account of the evening spent with her son matched Dotson’s. She said she’s “thinking now that my life is over.”
“I’m sorry, so sorry,” she said. “Please forgive me and please forgive my little Robert.”
The comments from Rodriguez and Dotson, their first since the Dec. 5 shootings, shed light on how Hawkins obtained the gun used in Nebraska’s deadliest single shooting incident.
According to Dotson, Hawkins knew that weapons were stored in a bedroom closet at Dotson’s house. So before he left for Thailand on Nov. 24, Dotson hid the handguns usually stored in that closet.
Dotson said he left a black AK-47-style rifle in the closet so that his ex-wife could protect herself and the girls against intruders.
The couple divorced 11 years ago, he said, but had sustained a relationship for the sake of their children.
Dotson said he never imagined that his former stepson would do harm to himself or others with the guns, but he didn’t trust him enough to leave the handguns out.
“He’s 19. . . . I just thought it would be better to not leave them in my closet,” Dotson said.
Because of Hawkins’ previous brushes with the law — for fighting at school, possession of alcohol and sale of marijuana — Dotson had kept the boy away from his weapons, he said. Dotson did recall going target shooting with him once more than a decade ago.
Dotson said the night before the Westroads slayings, Hawkins told his mother that he had lost his job at McDonald’s — an account that differs from previous statements that Hawkins was fired the morning of the slayings.
Despite losing his job, Hawkins didn’t appear distraught or upset, just “neutral,” his former stepfather said. He told his half sisters that he couldn’t get them discounts anymore because he lost his McDonald’s job, and he searched the Internet with his mother for job openings.
“That hardly seems like the act of someone in despair or someone who is suicidal,” Dotson said.
Hawkins’ mother, Dotson said, left the home for an hour with the two daughters. She discovered the rifle missing later that night, Dotson said, and sent him an e-mail in Thailand, saying that “the black gun is missing” and to “call me right away.”
She told ABC News that she thought Hawkins planned to sell or pawn the gun.
Dotson said that when he finally checked his e-mails, he misunderstood the message and reassured his ex-wife: “Don’t worry, I put all the pistols out of sight.”
The return e-mail to his ex-wife, he said, probably didn’t arrive until about the same time she was being shown two suicide notes and a will left by Hawkins at the home where he had been living, about a mile away.
Dotson said his ex-wife immediately alerted law enforcement. She brought the notes to the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office about 30 minutes after the start of the shooting spree, unaware of what had happened.
“Even then, there was no indication that he was going to do this,” Dotson said, referring to the mall massacre.
Rodriguez told ABC News she learned that her son was the gunman three hours later.
She said he had left voice mail for her earlier that day: “Mommy, I love you. I’m sorry. I will talk to you later.”
Dotson, who is a contractor who travels for his job, said he learned of the Westroads shootings and his former stepson’s involvement by watching CNN in Thailand.
He said he took the first flight he could get back to Nebraska.
“I spent 24 hours of traveling wondering what we could have done differently.”
