Robert Hawkins Mom Speaks Out

For the first time since the mall massacre in Omaha, the mother of the gunman is speaking out.

No one can ever fully understand what the teen was thinking just a week ago, when he killed eight innocent people shopping at Von Maur.

In an exclusive interview on Good Morning America Thursday…the gunman's mother said, “I had to make my apologies to these people.”

Maribel Rodriguez, the mom of the Westroad's shooter, said her sorries in an exclusive interview with Diane Sawyer.

But she didn't cry once and almost seemed emotionless.

She said the night before the shooting, she sensed something wasn't quite right with her son.

She even checked her husband's gun closet to see if anything was missing.

But she says she was and is still shocked, that her little boy as she called him, would do something like this.

“Hi mom it's me.   I just wanted to let you know that i love you.   I'm sorry for everything. I'll see you later. Bye.”

Those were the last words Maribel Rodriguez would here from her 19-year-old son Robert Hawkins, before he killed 8 people and then turned the gun on himself, here at Westroad's mall.

He left that message, the day he went on a shooting rampage with an AK-47.

She went on TV to say she was sorry, and had this response when Diane Sawyer asked her, what's worse, losing her son, or the lives of eight innocent victims. 

Rodriguez said her son never felt like he was accepted.

Hawkin's was shuffled between treatment programs, and foster homes, in 2002, he became a state ward.

He was later in treatment for threatening to kill his step-mother.

Hawkins had several misdemeanors on his record along with a felony, but no record of being physically violent.

In August of '06 he was released from state custody, and was living with his friends parents.

Those who knew him said they thought he was on the right track.

Diane Sawyer asked his mother Thursday, if she thinks she could've done something differently.

Although she didn't cry once during the interview, Diane Sawyer, did say once the camera's stopped rolling she did break down.

Maribel checked herself into a hospital for psychiatric treatment after the shooting.

She checked herself out to plan her son's funeral, which was a private ceremony held on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Hawkins father released this statement.

He said, “While no words can ease the pain and grief, our family prays that at some time, in some way, our community can be healed in the aftermath of this terrible tragedy.”