Nine dead, seven injured, three of them critical – after Neo-Nazi leaning security guard opened fire inside a Texas shopping mall – Mauricio Garcia, 33, who has shooter training was removed from the Army in 2008, over ‘mental health’ concerns
Army veteran Mauricio Garcia, 33, now working as a security guard, killed eight people during his shooting rampage on Saturday at Allen Premium Outlets, in Texas
Seven people, including the gunman died at the scene, two more died in hospital
Christian LaCour, 20, Aishwarya Thatikonda, 27, two sisters -Daniela Mendoza a fourth grader and Sofia Mendoza a second grader
James Cho, 37, and his dentist wife Cindy, 35, along with their youngest son Kyu, 3, were all shot dead following the rampage on Saturday
Their eldest son, William who survived the incident was orphaned four days before his sixth birthday, was hospitalized with severe injuries
Nine people were rushed to trauma facilities, including the two who have since died
Three of the surviving victims were in critical condition and undergoing surgery and four were stable as of Saturday night,
Garcia was removed from the Army in 2008 over ‘mental health’ concerns
Investigators believe he may have been a white supremacist or neo-Nazi
The gunman, Mauricio Garcia, was dressed in SWAT gear with a semi-automatic rile at his side. He is seen laying dead outside another Allen store, a dozen feet from the H&M shop
Nine people, including the shooter were killed on Saturday after the gunman armed with an AR-15 rifle opened fired at an outdoor outlet mall in Texas. The mass shooting happened at the Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, a small suburb north of Dallas.
The suspect Mauricio Garcia, 33, is reported to be a security guard who was removed from the Army in 2008 over mental health concerns, it has been revealed.
Garcia, neo-Nazi who was living in a Budget Inn in Texas, killed eight people and injured seven others outside the H&M store at Allen Premium Outlets in Texas on Saturday afternoon.
Shoppers were seen fleeing the sounds of gunfire in footage of the ongoing chaos currently circulating on social media.
The rampage only stopped when an Allen Police Department officer who was attending an unrelated call at the mall heard gunfire and shot Garcia dead, but he had killed eight people at that point, including a child.
At least nine people were rushed to trauma facilities, two of whom have since died. Of the surviving victims, three were in critical condition and undergoing surgery and four were stable as of Saturday night, police said.
While his motive remains unconfirmed, law enforcement sources say now-deleted social media pages show he had neo-Nazi interests.
ABC 30 Dallas also reports that he served in the military in 2008 but was removed over mental health concerns.
Investigators have found social media accounts connected to the shooter that reveal hundreds of postings and images, including writings with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist rhetoric, neo-Nazi material and material espousing the supremacy of the white race.
Neighbors say they believe Garcia was working as a security guard but it’s unclear if he held a job in the mall or at another store.
Investigators said Garcia shooter was equipped with a ballistic vest, numerous magazines and additional handguns.
Carnage happened at The Premium Outlets in Allen, near Dallas, Texas on Saturday. Neighbors believe Garcia was working as a security guard but it’s unclear if he held a job in the mall or at another store
His gray car is seen parked outside his family home in Dallas before the shooting, was his means of transportation to the mall on Saturday
CNN reports that he had a license to work as a security guard in Texas between 2016 and 2020, but that the license expired.
According to the Washington Post, a patch the gunman was wearing on his chest alluded to his extremist ideologies. The patch read ‘RWDS’ which is an acronym for ‘Right Wing Death Squads.’
The revelations come after new audio revealed how the heroic officer made a frantic phone call begging for his colleagues to join him on the scene, radioing: ‘I need everybody I got.’
Victims: Aishwarya Thatikonda and Christian LaCour [right], both died in the shooting yesterday
James Cho and his dentist wife Cindy, along with their youngest son Kyu, 3, [top], were all shot dead following the rampage on Saturday. Their eldest son, William [bottom left], was hospitalized with with severe injuries four days before his sixth birthday
One of the fatalities was identified Christian LaCour, 20, died during the shooting. LaCour was an on-duty security guard at the outlet mall where the shooting occurred. Another victim was identified as Aishwarya Thatikonda who was killed while visiting the mall with a friend. The engineer was a few days away from her 28th birthday. Two sisters, Daniela Mendoza a fourth grader and Sofia Mendoza a second grade, were also killed.
James Cho, 37, and his wife Cindy, a 35-year-old dentist, along with their youngest son Kyu, 3, were all shot dead. Their eldest son, William Cho, 6, survived the massacre.
According to a GoFundMe set up for the family that has raised nearly $$362,173 of their $50,000 goal, William who is the only surviving member of the family, has just been moved from the ICU.
Survivors have also recalled being saved by a hero shop worker who locked them in a bathroom closet before being killed themselves.
Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, a small suburb north of Dallas, where Mauricio Garcia killed eight people, at least one of those victims a child, though thanks to the unnamed H&M workers efforts, several other youngsters were saved. Garcia was shot dead at the scene by a cop
About two minutes after first calling for backup, the cop said: ‘I got him down.’ Minutes later, another voice is heard on the radio saying: ‘We got victims. I need an ambulance.’
The FBI and police raided Garcia’s Dallas home just one hour after the massacre and requested a translator to speak with his family.
Neighbors say they often saw Garcia wearing a security guard-type uniform, but he was ‘very quiet’ and had ‘very unusual behavior.’
His gray Dodge Charger, which was seen at the scene, was often parked outside the home.
Police officers walk past the mobile command post as they investigate the crime scene, the day after the mass shooting at the Premium Outlets mall in Allen, Texas
Dashcam footage showed the moment a gunman opened fire and killed eight people, including a child on Saturday, before police neutralized him
Dashcam video showed gunman Mauricio Garcia getting out of a car and shooting at people on the sidewalk on Saturday afternoon. More than three dozen shots could be heard as the vehicle that was recording the video drove off.
Garcia was using an AR-15-style gun during the mass shooting, and was dressed in full tactical SWAT gear.
Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd confirmed that seven people died at the scene, including the gunman, and then a further two victims died in hospital.
Three of those wounded were in critical condition in the evening, and four were stable, Boyd said in an update on Saturday night.
A Dallas-area medical group said it was treating victims as young as five-years-old.
Mall goers being escorted off the premises, many with their hands on the heads looking visibly distraught
One survivor, mom-of-two Racquel Lee described how the shooting Saturday interrupted her impromptu shopping trip, and how she and 12 others were rescued by a store worker who selflessly hid them in a closet during the gunman’s rampage.
Shortly after Lee entered the H&M store, Garcia arrived in his own car moments later and opened fire. It ‘sounded like a war zone’ she said, as frantic shoppers started fleeing from the hail of bullets.
In the midst of the chaos, one store associate gathered 13 customers, including Lee and several children, and hid them inside the store’s bathroom closet.
In a video interview Sunday, H&M Store customer Racquel Lee, [photo], how she and 12 others were rescued by a store worker who selflessly hid them in a closet during the gunman’s rampage, but was then gunned down by Garcia
The worker then left the group, and Lee hours later was escorted out by police.
On her way out, Lee recalled realizing that among the mass of ‘bullets and bodies’ outside, was the same store worker that hid her barely an hour before.
The officer bravely ran towards the active shooter and killed him. Garcia who was armed with 60 rounds had shot more than a dozen people by this point
Investigators confirmed they believe shooter Garcia was working alone, but they have not yet released any motive for the killings.
Fontayne Payton, 35, was at H&M when he heard the sound of gunshots through his headphones. He said: ‘It was so loud, it sounded like it was right outside.
‘I pray it wasn’t kids, but it looked like kids,’ he said.
The bodies were covered in white towels, slumped over bags on the ground. ‘It broke me when I walked out to see that.’
The front entrance of a home in Dallas, Texas connected to suspected mall gunman, Mauricio Garcia
Police and FBI searching the house on Saturday night
Glass is seen shattered across the sidewalk in front of one of the fashion stores in Allen, where the mass shooting took place just after 3pm on Saturday, May 6
Payton then saw the body of the dead shooter – which was the only one not covered, he recalled.
Another witness, Kimberly Blakey, said she and her daughter, 14, were among the crowd of people rushing to flee the parking lot after the gunfire started.
She said the raining bullets were ‘non-stop.’
Her car got shot at during the ordeal as she tried to escape.
Blakey told CNN: ‘I told my daughter to get down. I could hear her start praying.’
Police said that the scene is still active, and shoppers were seen fleeing the sounds of gunfire in footage of the frantic scene currently circulating on social media
Residents return to the crime scene at the H&M store at Allen Premium Outlets in Texas on Saturday afternoon, in an effort to retrieve their vehicles
Another witness, Sheliza Ramlall, who was in the Nike store when the violence broke out, said: ‘I had the most horrifying experience earlier. I was standing in line at the Nike store when all of a sudden people started to scream and run.
‘The people in the doorway saw the man with the gun outside and raised the alarm. All of us in line dropped to the floor and started to crawl looking for a hiding place while falling over each other.
‘I crawled behind the counter. At that moment, I realized that we were right in plain sight and and figured that I needed to get away from the front.
‘As I looked to the back of the store, I heard someone saying ‘get to the back, get to the back’ and everyone started running at that point. An employee opened the back door and let us out. We are standing by the roadside shaken, crying, and hugging each other.
‘Not knowing where the gunman was or what was happening on the other side was terrifying but I wanted to get out of there so I left the crowd and started to flag the cars down to give me a lift.
‘An elderly woman stopped and I hopped in a panic. She started to tell me about the gunshots she heard and drove me to my car. I raced out of there with an elevated heartbeat.
‘I am grateful for our brave first responder’.
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