A chilling new clip shows shoppers running for their lives after a neo-Nazi gunman shot dead eight people with an AR-15.
Multiple rapid gunshots are heard as someone yells to “get in the car” as dozens of people flee the scene as the SWAT-clad attacker opened fire on the Allen, Texas, mall.
According to ABC 30 Dallas, gunman Mauricio Garcia, 33, was reportedly a security officer who was removed from the Army in 2008 on “mental health” grounds. The US Army did not provide any further information.
He was living at a Budget Inn in Texas when he killed eight people and injured five others outside the H&M store at Allen Premium Outlets on Saturday afternoon.
It comes after Gov. Greg Abbot said not to “jump to conclusions” that the shooter was a white supremacist, although multiple sources claimed he was an extremist.
He said authorities are “still waiting to find out why and how this happened,” and it “will inform us as Texas leaders about the next steps to take to try to stop such crimes in the future.” impede”.
A police officer who was at the scene responding to another call shot Garcia dead when he heard the gunshots.
While his motive remains unconfirmed, law enforcement sources say now-deleted social media pages show he had neo-Nazi interests.
The shooter, Mauricio Garcia, wore SWAT gear with a semi-automatic rifle at his side. He’s dead in front of another Allen store a dozen yards from the H&M store
Multiple rapid gunshots are heard as someone yells to “get in the car” as dozens of people flee the scene as the SWAT-clad attacker opened fire on the Allen, Texas, mall
CNN has reported that Garcia has worked as a security guard for three different companies and has received extensive firearms training.
According to records from CNN, he was approved to work as a security guard in the Lone Star State between 2016 and 2020, when his license expired.
Neighbors say they believe Garcia worked as a security guard, but it’s unclear if he had a job at the mall or another business.
Three of the wounded were in critical condition and four were stable as of the evening, Boyd said in an update Saturday night.
Three members of the same family were shot dead in the massacre – leaving a five-year-old boy orphan.
The Korean consulate in Dallas confirmed that Mr. Cho and Ms. Kang were killed in the massacre along with their three-year-old son.
Authorities have yet to release their full names and their eldest son, 5, is currently being treated at a hospital and is in serious condition following the Allan, Texas shooting.
Engineer Aishwarya Thatikonda, 27, and Christian LaCour, 20, who worked as security guards at the mall, were also killed in the massacre.
At least eight people were killed in the shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, a small suburb north of Dallas. At least one of those killed was a child, although several other youths were rescued thanks to the unnamed efforts of H&M employees
Christian LaCour, 20, (pictured), who worked as a security guard at the mall, was the first victim of the mass shooting to be identified yesterday
Aishwarya Thatikonda (pictured), originally from Hyderabad, India, was identified today by a family representative as one of the nine people killed in the massacre – including the gunman
Dashcam footage showed the moment a gunman opened fire, killing several civilians – while cops are reportedly on the hunt for a second gunman believed to have aided in the attack
Thatikonda, originally from Hyderabad, India, had been shopping for her upcoming birthday when she was one of the nine people shot dead – including the gunman.
She moved to Dallas two years ago to work as a project engineer at Perfect General Contractors, was shopping with her friend at Allen Premium Outlets on Saturday morning when gunman Mauricio Garcia opened fire.
“She was very kind and very loving,” a family representative told WFAA, adding that Thatikonda’s girlfriend was injured in the shooting and is currently in a stable hospital.
LaCour was the first mass shooting victim to be identified yesterday. His grandmother Sandra Montgomery described him as a “beautiful soul”.
“My beautiful grandson, Christian LaCour, was the security guard who was killed in the Allen, Texas shooting. He was such a beautiful soul,” she wrote.
In another tribute post shared on Sunday, a person close to LaCour’s family said he was a “very sweet gentleman.”
Kellie Smith said she felt lucky “to have watched this sweet boy grow into a very sweet gentleman,” the woman wrote on Facebook.
“Her will be a void forever. Please lift up his family in prayer as they navigate this incredible time in their lives. Christian, you will always be close to us because we will hold you in our hearts until we see you in heaven,” Smith wrote.
Garcia’s gray car is parked outside his family’s Dallas home before the shooting
Mauricio Garcia, the shooter, died at the scene. He was shot dead by a police officer – but he had already fired shots and killed eight people himself
Allen Police Department officers man the mobile command post the day after the gunman shot dead several people
Mall employees hug as they greet each other the day after a shooting at Allen Premium Outlets May 7, 2023 in Allen, Texas
A bouquet of flowers will be left outside the entrance of the Allen Premium Outlet Mall to commemorate those killed during the previous day’s mass shooting in Allen, Texas
LaCour was the first of eight victims to be publicly identified, a full day after the shooting.
According to the Washington Post, a band-aid the shooter wore on his chest alluded to his extremist ideologies – although no formal motive has been released.
The patch read “RWDS” which is an acronym for “Right Wing Death Squads”.
This comes after new audio revealed how the heroic officer made a frantic call asking his colleagues to join him at the scene, radioing: “I need everyone I’ve got.”
Survivors have also recalled being rescued by a hero shop worker who locked them in a bathroom cabinet before killing them themselves.
She began her impromptu shopping spree by stopping in front of the same H&M store, where moments later Garcia would arrive in his own car and open fire. Lee said it “sounded like a war zone” as desperate shoppers began fleeing the hail of bullets.
In the ensuing chaos, the unnamed store employee rounded up a distraught Lee and 12 others, including several children, and hid them in the store’s bathroom cabinet. The worker then left the group and Lee was escorted by police hours later.
On her way out, Lee recalled realizing that the same store clerk who had hidden her barely an hour earlier was outside among the mass of “bullets and bodies.”
The officer bravely ran towards the active gunman – who was armed with 60 rounds and by that time had shot more than a dozen people – and killed him.
Nasir Willis and Hannah McAbee from Denton come to the mall to reflect on the fact that Nasir has a cousin who was here during filming
Shoppers leave as law enforcement officers respond to the mass shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets in the Dallas area on Saturday
Mother-of-two Racquel Lee, who appeared for a video interview on Sunday, described how Saturday’s shooting interrupted her impromptu shopping spree and how she and 12 others were rescued by a store employee who selflessly hid them in a closet during the shooter’s rampage
About two minutes after he first called for backup, the police officer said, “I got him down.” Minutes later, another voice is heard on the radio saying, “We have victims. I need an ambulance.’
Just an hour after the massacre, the FBI and police searched the dead Garcia’s Dallas home and requested a translator to speak to his family.
Neighbors say they have often seen Garcia in a uniform resembling a security guard, but that he was “very calm” and exhibited “very unusual behavior”.
His gray Dodge Charger, seen at the scene, was often parked in front of the house.
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 were heard as the vehicle capturing the video pulled away.
Garcia used an AR-15 style weapon during the mass shooting and wore full SWAT tactical gear.
Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd confirmed seven people died at the scene, including the gunman, and two other victims died in hospital.
Investigators confirmed they believe the shooter Garcia worked alone, but have not yet released a motive for the killings.
The front entrance of a home associated with suspected gunman Mauricio Garcia
Police and the FBI searched the home Saturday night
Shards of glass are seen on the sidewalk outside one of the Allen fashion stores where the mass shooting took place just after 3pm on Saturday 6 May
Fontayne Payton, 35, was at H&M when he heard gunfire through his headphones. He said: “It was so loud, it sounded like it was right outside.
“I pray it wasn’t children, but it looked like children,” he said.
The bodies were covered with white sheets that hung over bags on the floor. “It broke me when I went out to see that.”
Payton then saw the body of the dead gunman – the only one not covered, he recalled.
Another witness, Kimberly Blakey, said she and her 14-year-old daughter were among the crowd of people who fled the parking lot after the shooting began.
She said the bullets rained “non-stop.” During the ordeal, her car was shot at as she tried to escape.
Blakey told CNN, “I told my daughter to get down. I could hear her beginning to pray.”
Another witness, Sheliza Ramlall, who was at the Nike store when the violence erupted, said: “I used to have the most horrific experience. I was standing in line at the Nike store when suddenly people started screaming and running.
MacKenzie Bates hugs her mother Rochelle where flowers were left at the crime scene
Local residents are returning to pick up their vehicles at the scene
“People in the door saw the man with the gun outside and sounded the alarm. All of us in line dropped to the ground and started crawling and looking for a place to hide while falling on top of each other.
“I crawled behind the counter. At that moment I realized we were directly in sight and figured I had to get away from the front lines.
“As I looked to the back of the store, I heard someone say, ‘Go to the back, go to the back,’ and everyone started running at that point. An employee opened the back door and let us out. We stand shaken on the side of the road, cry and hug each other.
“Not knowing where the shooter 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 waving down the cars to give me a lift.
“An elderly woman stopped and I jumped up in panic. She started telling me about the shots she heard and drove me to my car. I ran away with my heart racing.
“I am grateful for our brave first responders who stopped the shooter and helped people to safety.”