Victims of Omaha mall shootings remembered at wakes, funerals

Published: 2007-12-19

OMAHA, Neb. (CNS) -- They came from different backgrounds, varied in age and had different strengths, but the victims of the Dec. 5 mall shooting shared a joy for life and a love of others, said family members of the eight people who were murdered at the Von Maur department store. Relatives of Gary Joy, Janet Jorgensen, Dianne Trent, Angie Schuster, Maggie Webb, John McDonald, Beverly Flynn and Gary Scharf spoke at wake services and funerals at churches in the Omaha area. Icy roads and wintry weather couldn't stop thousands of mourners from gathering to remember those who lost their lives. At funeral services of the four Catholics buried in Omaha -- Jorgensen, McDonald, Trent and Schuster -- the message was one of hope and of God's power over death. Trent, who had worked in customer service at Von Maur for about eight years, died as she had lived her life: putting others first. The 53-year-old widow was shot while calling for help from a phone behind the customer service counter on the store's third floor. Trent spent her last 38 seconds talking to a 911 dispatcher about the shooting at Westroads Mall.

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