Victim remembered as 'strong, loving'

Family wants Ill. mall shooting victim remembered as 'strong, loving'

MOLINE -- Hundreds of mourners braved freezing rain and treacherous roads Tuesday to pay their respects to a western Illinois woman killed in a mass shooting at an Omaha, Neb., shopping mall last week.

Friends and family remembered Maggie Webb, 24, for her humor and charm.

"She was the best baby sitter I ever had," Alexis Roberts, 15, told The (Moline) Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus as she left Tuesday's service.

"She told us fun stories, played games," Roberts said. "I'll remember how charismatic and funny and smart she was."

Authorities say 19-year-old Robert Hawkins opened fire with an AK-47 in the Von Maur store at Omaha's Westroads Mall, fatally wounding eight people before taking his own life.

Webb, the youngest of the eight victims, was about two weeks shy of her 25th birthday and had only managed the Von Maur store for a few weeks.

"Think of all those wondrous things Maggie did in her short 24 years," the Rev. Donald Levitt told mourners, according to a story posted on The Quad-City Times' Web site Tuesday afternoon.

Webb's parents said in a statement this week that "she will forever live in the hearts of all who knew her."

"The Webb family would like Maggie to be remembered as the strong, loving, outgoing person she was," the statement said. "Her infectious smile could dry the deepest tears."

Webb graduated from Illinois State University in 2005 with a degree in business administration.

Tim Hughes, who worked with Webb's father at John Deere Harvester Works, still had tears in his eyes as he left Christ the King Catholic Church.

"They don't come any better than that," Hughes said. "Great people. It's just tragic."