US:A gunman opened fire inside a crowded shopping mall in Omaha, Nebraska, yesterday, killing eight people and then himself, police said.
Five other people were wounded in the rampage, including two critically, according to hospital spokesmen. One man with a chest wound was in surgery.
Police had few details of the shooting, but witnesses said the gunman shot one man in the head from a third-floor balcony of the Westroads Mall and others were shot at point-blank range.
Police arrived at the mall, which was crowded with shoppers, and encountered victim after victim, though it was not clear when the gunman killed himself, police Sgt Teresa Negron told reporters.
Sgt Negron said most of the victims were shot inside one department store and that the motive for the rampage was still being investigated.
"There was breaking glass. . . it was horrible, just horrible," one woman told KETV in Omaha, saying she hid under a clothes rack when the shooting started.
Another witness said she heard someone shout, "It's a gunman, run!" and saw bullet casings cascading off the mall balcony.
Witnesses reported hearing as many as two dozen gunshots, and some told local TV they saw people shot in the head.
Jeffrey Peck, manager of a leather goods store, said mall workers ran up to tell him to close up his store.
"I told the customer to go into the back room, and as I was shutting the gate, I heard two gunshots ring out." Shoppers and store workers were trapped inside the mall, which has roughly 135 stores, and huddled behind locked doors or inside dressing rooms. Others streamed out of mall exits with their hands raised.
Keith Fidler, a department store employee, said he heard a burst of five to six shots followed by 15 to 20 more rounds. Mr Fidler said he huddled in the corner of the men's clothing department with about a dozen other employees until police yelled to get out of the store.
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," Mr Vidlak said. "I grabbed my wife and kids and we got out of there as fast as we could." Shortly after the shooting, a group of shoppers came out of the building with their hands raised. Some were still holding shopping bags.
President George Bush was in town yesterday 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. It gets 14.5 million visitors every year, according to the website.