crossroads victims

a few weeks ago in omaha a guy went into a department store in the mall and shot the place up. he ended up killing 9 people, and himself. that mall is probably 5 blocks away from the apartment we lived in our first year of law school. there's two other malls in omaha, but that one is our mall. it's the one we ALWAYS go to. even so, i never wrote about it because it didn't seem real. i heard about it from a friend who saw it on the news. well, the other night we went there to finish up some shopping and to take the girls to see santa. 2 of the outside entrances of von maur (the department store) each had about 3 or 4 stanely steamer vans parked by them with a bunch of workers coming in and out of the building. it creeped me out knowing what they were cleaning out of the carpets. at the main entrance of von maur the stairs were COVERED with flowers, stuffed animals, wrapped gift, and tons of other things. i just started crying. that's the stuff you see on the news...it never feels real. it was so weird seeing it in person at a place that is familiar to me. inside the mall von maur has to indoor entrances, and at both of those the doors were covered with letters and pictures. i feel so bad for those families. i just hope their holidays are tainted for the rest of their lives.