OMAHA, Nebraska (RTTNews) - A gunman went on a shooting spree in a shopping center in the U.S. state of Nebraska, killing eight people and wounding five others before turning the gun on himself, police said on Wednesday.

The incident occurred inside the upscale Von Maur department store, inside a shopping center at the Westroads Mall in Omaha. At least some of the shots were fired from an interior balcony overlooking an atrium, police said.
Police were called to the center at around lunchtime, when the center was packed with Christmas shoppers, Sgt Teresa Negron told a news conference. She said she could confirm nine deaths, including the gunman. She said five people had been injured, two in critical condition.
""We do not believe that we have any other shooter,"" she told reporters, according to Reuters news agency. ""The person we believe to be the shooter has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.""
Witnesses spoke of terrified shoppers scrambling to find safe shelter as the gunman went on a shooting spree. ""We heard about 35, 40 shots, and on our way we did see someone down by the escalator, bleeding,"" witness Jennifer Cramer told local media, according to news agency AFP.
One woman said she had seen the gunman. ""I went around and then I saw the guy in the children's department,"" she said. Big tall guy, real tall and he just stood there with his arm like this, his hand straight up in the air, shooting. And then I turned and ran.""
Several witnesses spoke of barricading themselves away in stockrooms until the police arrived. One employee at the center said she had been in the wrapping department.
In a statement, the White House said President George Bush, who visited Omaha earlier in the day for a fundraiser, said he was ""deeply saddened"" by the shootings.
""Having just visited with so many members of the community in Omaha today, the president is confident that they will pull together to comfort one another as they deal with this terrible tragedy,"" the White House said in a statement.