Mother of mall shooter devastated, doesn't know son's motivation
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CLACKAMAS, Ore. – The mother of the man who police say went on a deadly shooting rampage in the Clackamas Town Center is devastated, confused, angry and doesn’t know what to think about her son's actions.
Tami Roberts lives less than a mile from the mall. On Thursday she apologized to all the families of the victims and to everyone inside the mall during Tuesday’s shooting that left three dead, including her son and shooter, Jacob Tyler Roberts. The shooting also left a girl seriously injured. She is recovering in a local hospital.
Roberts said she has no idea why her son did what he did.
While she wasn't Jacob's biological mother, Roberts raised him like he was.
"They came here at midnight and told me my baby was dead and that he had done some really horrible things," she said. "Something went twang, Jake's not like that. He never ever in his life gave any indication at all that this is what he wanted to do."
Roberts said her son started to lose direction in his life when he wasn't able to join the Marines out of high school because of a broken foot.
Roberts became Jacob's guardian when his mother died from cancer before his third birthday. But the two had a falling out when he turned 18, and had not spoken in four years, though she declined to say why.
She said she didn't know about his plans to move to Hawaii and didn’t know where he got the gun. She also said she has no idea about what motivated his actions.
"Jake's always been a good boy," she said. "He was so loving and caring."
To show the boy she knew, she showed off an art project her son made in the second grade and spoke about the trip they took together for her 40th birthday.
It's the business card left behind by detectives that reminds her what her son did is real.
"I feel like if I didn't have this card right here – if I didn’t have this card, I would swear this is the meanest joke that anybody could ever play on me. But this (the card) makes it real," she said.
Roberts doesn't know if Jacob left a note.
She learned about the shooting much like everyone else.
"I was at Walgreens thinking, 'Oh great, some jerk is at Clackamas Town Center ruining everybody's day.' I had no idea my son was the stupid little jerk," she said. "I can't spank him, I can't ground him, I can't send him to his room, I can't keep his friends away from him, I can't take the Nintendo away, there's nothing I can do to make my kid not do what he did."
Roberts said that as part of her grieving process, she wants to raise money for suicide prevention groups. There will be a fund set up starting Friday at U.S. Bank branches called the "Jacob Roberts Memorial Fund."
Meanwhile, employees were allowed back inside Clackamas Town Center for the first time Thursday since the shooting. The mall is set to reopen to the public at 9 a.m. Friday. Also Friday, according to TriMet, regular service around the mall will resume.
There will be a candlelight vigil at 7 p.m. Friday at the mall entrance near Starbucks.
Also, shoppers can begin to claim the items they left behind Friday and Saturday during mall hours. Shoppers can find their items next to the management office on the lower level down the hallway between AT&T and The Buckle. On Sunday, Dec. 16, items can be retrieved from the security office on the upper level food court.
Killed in the shooting were 45-year-old Steve Mathew Forsyth and 54-year-old Cindy Ann Yuille. Kristina Shevchenko, 15, is recovering at Oregon Health & Science University after being shot in the chest.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This woman claims the title of mother when in fact she is (or was) guardian. In most states, guardianship expires when the child turns 18, so the falling out is also suspect. What are the financial and legal implications of foster parent, guardian, and adoptive parent in Oregon, and in particular I'd give to a bona fide non-profit, not a bank fund set up by this "mother".
Problems almost always (90%) of the time, start in the home. Too many parents/guardians are in denial and won't tell the public the truth about the way their child was raised. So, onlookers scratch their heads and say, "Well, the parents seem at a loss. They don't know why their nice, quiet child would do such a heinous act." B.S.!
Like the cigarette manufacturers, why aren't the weapons manufacturers being held responsible for the damages due to their product? The cigarette manufacturers have had to pay millions (billions?) to states and federal agencies of several countries to cover the health care and preventative costs of their product. And the link is far more direct than linking emphysema or lung cancer to smoking. I would like to know the costs being absorbed by health insurance companies--private, medicare, medicaid, private-pay due to guns.
 @Sheila Lechner That's like saying forks make people fat. A gun doesn't fire itself.Â
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@Butter all you gun lovers stop comparing cars to guns... but on the other hand you are right, bullets need to be belted in. Let's see if your small brain can figgure that one out...
 @Sheila Lechner Well first and foremost the tobacco lobby lied to the general public (well at least to those dolts that "believed" it) about how their product was not addicting or dangerous. Guns already come with the warnings of misuse or abuse.
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I'm sorry if I sound arrogant or snide, but I have read your posts and IMO you are so antagonistic toward firearms that your objectivity has been lost. When one gets emotional on a subject they can rarely be considered a valuable asset to that cause.
@aintno1special You sound "emotional" to me.
I did not watch the video, only read the article. The quotes there are more than enough to trouble me for the rest of the day. The things that stood out as strange include:
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1. I find it wholly inappropriate for the parent of a killer to solicit donations for any reason. At most, "friends of" should open and administer the fund. If it is in fact for the family of a killer (who also goes through a great deal of hell), then at the very least, title the name something slightly less obnoxious than <Killer Name> Memorial. This entire part of the article is disturbing. Part of the grieving process is to ask for donations for suicide groups?Â
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2. This could be nitpicking, but it seems extremely strange that the mother shows an art project he did in second grade to show the boy he knew. One would think that perhaps there might be a more recent example.
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3. EVERYTHING about this paragraph troubled me:Â "I was at Walgreens thinking, 'Oh great, some jerk is at Clackamas Town Center ruining everybody's day.' I had no idea my son was the stupid little jerk," she said. "I can't spank him, I can't ground him, I can't send him to his room, I can't keep his friends away from him, I can't take the Nintendo away, there's nothing I can do to make my kid not do what he did."Â
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- So you hear about a man running around a mall murdering people and you think to yourself, "...ruining everybody's day"?
- "Stupid little jerk" - that's what you call a gunman on a rampage?
- Finally, the way this guy was punished is apparent in that last sentence. How was he punished/disciplined? Spankings, groundings, keeping friends away, taking away Nintendo. Wow.
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4. A business card left by police is what makes it real?
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Sorry, this woman isn't all there.
 @WebGirlie What struck me was that she described him as "a good boy" who was very "loving and caring" yet she had not spoken to him in four years because of an estrangement that she did not elaborate on. None of that adds up at all.
And sometimes, you just never know the answer.
While it was a huge undertaking on her part for raising him, when things like this happen, I always want to blame the parent in some way. Unless a mental illness is the case, parents are the ones who instill morals, beliefs and basic respect for mankind in their children. If children are socially awkward, insecure or so independent on their parents that they cannot function as normal adults, I think it has to do with something the parent did or did not do.
 I disagree, even with good parenting kids will continue to make poor decisions.  How else would you explain kids from the same parents growing up in the same households but becoming completely different adults.
 @oledawg It's entirely possible. Some parents favor one child over another. Favortism has big effect on children. I agree with Anarchy on this one.
 @talan  @oledawg Not always talan. My parents have always seemed to show favour for my brother more than me, yet he's turned out to be the menace, while I'm not out causing distress to my family like he's done.
Roberts said that as part of her grieving process, she wants to raise money for suicide prevention groups. There will be a fund set up starting Friday at U.S. Bank branches called the "Jacob Roberts Memorial Fund."
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Really?!?!? Suicide prevention?? If he was suicidal, he wouldn't have gone to a mall on a crowded day (that too during the holidays) and starting shooting in the crowd (wearing a bullet proof vest), multiple rounds!!!Â
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I was feeling sorry for her, until I read that.. stupid gimp!!
 @Seattleite I think homicide prevention would be more appropriate. And name it after his victims. Who in their right mind is going to donate money to something like that named after a killer?
@Seattleite Ya, it sort of rubs you the wrong way to want to contribute money - in his name - to suicide prevention. Had the gun jammed again, we wouldn't be talking about suicide but rather a double-murderer.Â
She seems medicated, not drunk. I probably would be too, if that was my kid that just shot up a mall full of people.
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I'm sorry for her loss, but I am certainly not giving to a fund that is named after a person who shot 3 people in cold blood, no matter what the fund is for.
There should NOT be a fund in this guys name. Also...
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"Jake's always been a good boy," she said. "He was so loving and caring."
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The news report I heard said that they had been estranged for four years and that he was doing a lot of things wrong, so no, he hasn't always been a good boy. Also... Why hasn't the father been interviewed??? Crickets... Yeah, maybe no male role models has something to do with it.
Is she drunk??
Something went twang.
I don't get it, Why would she name the fund after her child, he MURDERED people. The fund should be to help the victims of this tragedy.Â
 @Nicole P I agree that there should be a fund for the families of the two killed and for the medical bills of the younger victim. I think donating to suicide prevention groups is a good idea, but in this case I would donate directly to the group and not the suspects mother.
So after his broken foot healed, why didn't he re-enlist?
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Well, that's an actual investigative question that might shed some light, but that takes a more inquisitive approach to reporting. What we get instead is all the "oh my this is awful gosh I'm so shocked" load of horse flop that takes virtually no reporting effort.
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Let's not ask any real questions, just shove microphones in the faces of all the loser friends and family members and report the totally predictable pablum they trot out. I remember when journalism was not just flogging web ads.
 @PilonidalCyst What do you want them to say?  "He was a psychotic little mother effer and we're surprised it took this long."  They said how they feel.  Like it or not, they are victims in a way too.  They lost someone they cared about, AND they will receive all the wrath that people have for him that they can't direct anywhere but at them. Â
You seem incapable of understanding my point. Let me say it again: I'm NOT INTERESTED in what this woman or his girlfriend had to say. A chimp could have written the script to what they told reporters...it was totally predictable and boring. How did he get the gun? How about interviewing the person he stole it from? Maybe there's something OF INTEREST in that detail. What about this detail concerning the plane ticket to Hawaii he bought and then didn't use because he was too hungover or whateverthehell. Did he REALLY buy a ticket? Or are all these "facts" being reported just some half-hearted crap being thrown in to fill column inches?
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"Oh my, he was always so nice. He was a rapper. He was always rapping." Guffaw!
@PilonidalCyst the troll
Ha! My, you're clever, at least enough to impress a grade-schooler. I read the article to see if there was anything of value, which there wasn't. Perhaps there was something in there other than the useless interview. Why the f do you seem so thick in the head?
 @PilonidalCyst  I don't think they should have interviewed her either (too much I, me, MY in there for my taste), nor do I think she should name a fund after him, but some people ARE curious.......
 @PilonidalCyst If you are not interested in what they have to say then why the f do you click on the link and feel the need to comment on it?
@Doxie @PilonidalCyst right now due to downsizing it isn't easy to get into the miltary and they are not only looking for ways to get people out, they look for any reason not to bring you in
 I would guess that poor Jacob was bipolar...bipolar syndrome often severely manifests in the sufferer's late teens, early 20's.  The fact that Jacob was not acting "normal" lately certainly makes me think this was the case.  I had (emphasis upon HAD) a wonderful and loving son who "changed" in his late teens, early 20's.  He went through 19 years of ups and downs with rapid-cycling bipolar syndrome (often alienating himself from his family), then suddenly, with no warning of anything seriously wrong, he killed his girl friend, her son, and himself.  Such horrible heart-break...  I feel for Jacob's mother and know how devastating this is.  My sincere sympathy to her...and CERTAINLY, as well, to the families of Jacob's innocent victims...
 @nvr2amzd Oh that's heartbreaking -- the entire story of your son's life, and for his victims. you obviously understand better than anyone else here, the pain for all the families involved. Around 20 is when other mental illnesses can emerge, like schizophrenia.Â
 @DT  @nvr2amzd I was thinking schizophrenia too if things started to go downhill late teens. But people with schizophrenia and bi-polar are EXTREMELY unlikely to commit calculated violent crimes like this. More likely it was a severe character disorder or psychopathy.
"had not spoken in four years, though she declined to say why." interesting...................
 @SoSo one word, teenager
This is one case where you see the statements of the killer's friends and family, and you truly believe that they are shocked by it, and are at a loss. Â There have been so many cases where the family and friends knew that something was wrong, or there was an indication of a violent or disturbed personality, but this one seems to have come out of nowhere. Â I am heartbroken for the victim's families, and do feel compassion for Robert's friends and family, as it seems as this was absolutely not the person they loved. Â Not that it will bring anyone back, or make anything easier, but I do hope that the investigators can shed light on what happened, and what changed in him. Â Â