VIDEO: Nine Killed in Mall Shooting in Omaha

The man believed to be the gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A gunman opened fire inside a crowded shopping mall in Omaha, Nebraska, on Wednesday, 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.

Motive Unknown

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.

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.

Trapped Inside the Mall

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 backroom, 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.

President George W. Bush gave an address in Omaha on Wednesday morning but had left the city hours before the incident.

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