Live updates: Allen gunman ‘had neo-Nazi ideation,’ carried 8 legally purchased weapons
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Shooting in Allen, Texas
Here’s everything we know about the May 6, 2023 mass shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets mall.
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As more information comes out about the Allen mass shooting suspect’s apparent social media posts with white supremacist and neo-Nazi views, state and federal authorities gave an update on the investigation.
Authorities said they are still investigating the gunman’s motive in the shooting Saturday at the Allen Premium Outlets mall, in which eight victims were killed, including children as young as 3 years old, and seven people were injured. The Texas Department of Public Safety held a press briefing at 2 p.m. Tuesday with representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Allen Police Department.
“We do know he had neo-Nazi ideation,” Texas DPS Regional Director Hank Sibley said about the shooting suspect, 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia of Dallas. “He had patches. He had tattoos.”
Sibley said authorities are trying to get into Garcia’s computer and are looking at his social media. He said, to his knowledge, authorities have not found a manifesto. “This is the ongoing part of the investigation,” he said. Once a definitive motive is determined, authorities “can go public with that,” Sibley said.
Investigators believe Garcia chose the mall as his target and then fired at shoppers at random, Sibley said. Although most of the dead have been identified as people of color, including Hispanic and Asian Americans, Sibley said it’s not known whether Garcia was targeting people from specific racial or ethnic groups. Three of the dead were children, and Garcia seemed to fire at people regardless of characteristics like age, Sibley said.
Garcia was shot and killed by a police officer, ending the attack and likely saving countless lives, police said.. Sibley gave more information Tuesday on the timeline of the shooting, saying that Garcia shot 15 people within about three or four minutes before he was killed by the officer, who was at the mall on an unrelated call.
The gunman had three weapons on him, including the AR-15 he was seen firing in viral video and a handgun. He had five more weapons in his car, Sibley said, and all of the guns were purchased legally.
Garcia did not have a criminal record, authorities said. He was discharged from the military in 2008 before completing basic training. “Early on they realized he was not a fit for the Army,” Sibley said.
Garcia was licensed to work as a security guard in Texas from about 2016 to 2020 and worked for several companies, but was not employed as a security guard at the time of the shooting. Sibley said he doesn’t have any information to indicate Garcia ever worked security at the Allen mall but he couldn’t say definitively that he didn’t.
Social media presence shows violent, extremist views
Preliminary research by the ADL Center on Extremism on the social media accounts believed to have belonged to the gunman shows that Garcia “was obsessed with violence and subscribed to a range of extremist ideologies, including antisemitism, violent misogyny and white supremacy,” the Anti-Defamation League said in a news release Tuesday.
ADL researchers said they examined “a massive social media trove” that they can link to Garcia with a high degree of confidence. Their initial assessment revealed “a preoccupation with violence that manifests in a wide range of hate, including towards women and Jews, and includes images of SS bolt and swastika tattoos on Garcia’s arms and chest. These tattoos appear to be recently acquired, as they did not appear in images posted prior to April 22, 2023.”
A photo that shows the tattoos includes the caption, “Here’s what I think about your diversity you (expletive) loser’s (sic).”
Garcia was Latino, and posted one cartoon image showing a Latino child at a fork in a road, with one direction labeled “act black” and the other, “become a white supremacist.”
“I think I’ll take my chances with the white supremacist,” he wrote.
Some of the posts are from a profile on the Russian social media site Odnoklassniki, also referred to as OK or OK.ru.
Other posts show Garcia had scouted the Allen mall weeks before he began shooting and researched when it was busiest — the same time and day as his attack.
As he opened fire at shoppers at the Allen outlet mall with an AR-15, law enforcement officials said, Garcia wore a tactical vest with a patch on his chest that read “RWDS,” an acronym for the phrase “Right Wing Death Squad,” which is popular among right-wing extremists and white supremacy groups.
In addition to reviewing social media posts, federal agents have interviewed family members and associates of Garcia to ask about his ideological beliefs, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press. Investigators are also reviewing financial records, other online posts they believe Garcia made and other electronic media, according to the official.
Garcia was discharged from Army for mental health issues
Garcia worked as a security guard after he was discharged from the U.S. Army in 2008 because of mental health issues, neighbors and an Army official told The Associated Press.
Garcia joined the Army in 2008 but was terminated three months later without completing his initial training, said Army spokeswoman Heather J. Hagan, who said the Army doesn’t “provide characterization” for any soldier’s discharge.
According to an Army official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel issues, though, Garcia was kicked out of the Army due to mental health issues.
Investigators search suspect’s motel, home
A law enforcement official said investigators searched a Dallas motel near an interstate where Garcia had been staying in the weeks before the shooting.
Two law enforcement officials confirmed that investigators also searched a Dallas home connected to Garcia.
FBI agents spent hours Saturday evening at the home in northeast Dallas where Garcia lived with his parents, WFAA-TV reported. Neighbors told WFAA that the suspect had lived there for as long as they could remember but that he had not been around in the past couple of weeks.
Neighbors who spoke to WFAA described Garcia as quiet with unusual behavior. They said he always wore some kind of security guard uniform but they did not remember seeing him with a gun.
The extended-stay motel where Garcia had been living recently was the Budget Suites, at 8150 N. Stemmons Freeway, according to The Dallas Morning News. A person who answered the phone at the motel on Sunday told the Star-Telegram that they could not comment.
A woman who lives three houses down from Garcia’s family’s low brick house said she saw a large group of uniformed officers go into the home Saturday between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.
“They went in like real fast, and I seen them do that like twice,” said Marsha Alexander, who said officers were still in the area when she went to bed around 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. They were gone by Sunday morning.
On Sunday afternoon, a woman named Julie was sitting on the porch of her house, next door to the one searched the day before. She declined to give her last name to an AP reporter but said she awoke from a nap around 6 p.m. Saturday to see four police squad cars and a large group of officers outside her neighbor’s home.
She said they entered the home and were joined about an hour later by FBI agents and other people wearing plainclothes, who she also took to be law enforcement.
Raise-the-age gun bill misses crucial deadline
A bill that would raise the age to legally purchase semi-automatic rifles lost its newfound momentum and was left off the Texas House’s agenda ahead of a key deadline.
Barring an unexpected development, the delay likely ends the bill’s chances of becoming law.
The proposal has long faced stiff odds in a state that has regularly loosened gun restrictions in recent years. But on Monday, in the aftermath of the deadly shooting in an Allen shopping mall, a House committee unexpectedly advanced the legislation in an 8-5 vote that included two Republicans supporting it.
That left little time for the bill to be added to the House’s calendar, however. The final day the House can pass bills is Thursday, and the chamber’s agenda must be approved 36 hours ahead of when it convenes. That creates a de facto deadline of around 10 p.m. Tuesday for the measure to be placed on the calendar.
‘It doesn’t have to be this way’
Rep. Jeff Leach, whose district includes the Allen outlet mall that was the site of Saturday’s shooting, took the mic at the front of the House chamber to address the attack in his community.
As some have criticized calls for prayers from lawmakers amid calls for action on gun safety, Leach said he will never apologize for praying for those affected.
“I want to allow time before responding, as we so often do in these situations, responding with talking points or reactions, political statements,” he said. “There will be time for debates and deliberation and responses.”
There’s still a lot that’s unknown about the shooting, Leach said.
“But one thing I do know is that this is happening way too much, and it doesn’t have to be this way,” Leach said. “I don’t have the answers. I don’t have a bill in front of you. I’m not sure there are any bills in front of you this morning, this session that could have prevented this.
“I don’t know. I don’t know. But I do know that it doesn’t have to be this way, and I also know that if there’s any deliberative body anywhere in this world that can discuss and deliberate on these issues thoughtfully, all of the potential solutions that we discuss… it’s this House.”
Who are the victims?
Seven people, including the shooter, died at the scene, Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said.
Nine victims were taken by ambulances to hospitals. Two of them died after arriving, bringing the total fatalities to eight victims.
Three members of a Korean American family were among the dead, the Yonhap News Agency reported. A couple and their 3-year-old son were killed. Another of the couple’s children was also shot.
The parents were Kyu Song Cho, 37, and Cindy Cho, 35, according to the the Texas Department of Public Safety. A verified GoFundMe raising money for the family identified the 3-year-old boy as James Cho and said the child who survived is 6-year-old William Cho, who celebrated his birthday four days before. William was released from the hospital on Thursday.
Sisters who attended Cox Elementary School in the Wylie Independent School District also died. Daniela Mendoza, 11, was in fourth grade, and Sofia Mendoza, 8, was in second grade.
The school district said the girls’ mother was in critical condition at a hospital.
Christian LaCour, a 20-year-old security guard from Farmersville, died while he was working at the mall, his sister Brianna Smith told ABC.
“He was a really sweet kid. I’m sad that he’s gone,” Smith said.
Police said LaCour helped one shopper to safety before he was killed while trying to save others.
Garcia also killed Aishwarya Thatikonda, a 26-year-old engineer who lived in McKinney, according to DPS and WFAA. DPS also identified Elio Cumana-Rivas, 32, of Dallas, Texas, as one of the victims.
On Thursday, Medical City Healthcare said five of the surviving victims were still being treated at the system’s hospitals.
Four victims were at the Medical City McKinney hospital, three in fair condition and one in good condition. One victim was in good condition at Medical City Plano. A seventh patient was being treated at an undisclosed location with no update on that person’s condition.
Medical City Healthcare system said it initially was treating eight patients between the ages of 5 and 61.
Read more about the victims here.
What else is known about the shooter?
The Texas Department of Public Safety on Sunday identified the shooting suspect as 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia, of Dallas.
Witnesses said the shooter was dressed all in black with a tactical vest and carried a rifle. President Biden called it “an AR-15 style assault weapon.”
His gear “looked like a SWAT uniform without the letters ‘SWAT’ on it,” one woman told CBS 11.
Dashboard camera video circulating online shows the gunman get out of a gray Dodge Charger and immediately start shooting people on a sidewalk outside H&M. Witnesses said he fired dozens of rounds. The video was recorded from a witness’ car in the parking lot.
A license on the Texas Online Private Security database listed someone who appears to be the suspect as having worked for three different companies since acquiring a security license in the state in 2016. None of those companies immediately could be reached for comment.
His last job is listed as ending in 2020, when the license expired. The database shows Garcia was certified in firearms proficiency.
Garcia attended Bryan Adams High School in Dallas and graduated in 2008.
The suspect was shot and killed by an officer outside the mall. Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey said that the officer, whose name has not been released, was on an unrelated call at the outlet mall at 3:36 p.m. when he heard gunshots and ran toward them.
“He engaged the suspect and neutralized the suspect,” Harvey said.
Video shared across social media showed the suspect lying dead outside the mall’s Fatburger restaurant. A rifle with an extended magazine lies next to his body. Law enforcement sources said they found multiple other weapons, including a handgun, either on him or in his car.
In the video, the shooter was wearing a body-armor vest with what appeared to be more than seven rifle magazines held in it. A tattoo on the shooter’s left hand looks to be the symbol of the City of Dallas. A pair of sunglasses with one of the lenses missing was lying next to the body.
In the video, the shooter was wearing all black with a jacket with white liner on the inside. Allen police vehicles could be seen in the parking lot.
Harvey said that police were not looking for other suspects and the gunman is believed to have acted alone.
Where did the shooting happen?
The Allen Premium Outlets mall is about 30 miles north of Dallas and is owned by Simon Property Group.
The city of Allen has a population of about 105,000 people and is among the Dallas-Fort Worth area’s diverse suburbs. The area saw the largest Asian-American growth rate of any major U.S. metro area, according to U.S. Census figures. Those statistics show that Allen’s population is about 19% Asian, 10% Black and 11% Hispanic.
Allen also is connected to another of Texas’ recent mass shootings. Patrick Crusius lived there in 2019 before he posted a racist screed online warning of a “Hispanic invasion” and drove to El Paso, where he opened fire at a Walmart, killing 23 people. Crusius, 24, pleaded guilty to federal hate crime and weapons charges in February.
The outlet mall has about 120 stores. According to police radio reports and witnesses, victims were found near stores including H&M, Francesca’s and New Balance.
Allen Premium Outlets announced that the mall was closed Sunday. It will remain closed indefinitely, according to Simon Property Group.
Allen police said that people who left behind vehicles at the outlet mall could go to The Edge at Allen Station Park (201 E. St Mary Drive), on the west side of the senior center, on Sunday evening to board a shuttle to the mall to retrieve their vehicles. The park was to be open for that purpose from 5:45-9:30 p.m. Sunday. The service resumed Monday at the same location.
Which law enforcement agencies responded?
The Allen Police Department led the initial response to the shooting. Federal and state authorities with ATF and the Texas Department of Public Safety also were on scene.
Collin County authorities and police from Frisco, McKinney and Wylie also responded to the mall.
Allen police said the FBI is assisting with collecting witnesses accounts and video. Police said that anyone who witnessed the shooting can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).
Witnesses are asked to upload any video or photos to fbi.gov/allenmallshooting.
The FBI said it is “devoting all available resources” to the investigation including intelligence, digital forensics and victim services.
The Texas Department of Public Safety is now leading the investigation.
“The public’s safety and a thorough investigation are paramount to all agencies involved,” DPS said in a news release Sunday.
Governor Abbott visits Allen Sunday
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott spoke with Shannon Bream on FOX News Sunday and said he would be in Allen on Sunday to try to help the community heal.
Abbott attended a community prayer service at an Allen church Sunday evening but did not speak there.
“Obviously, this is just devastating. Texans are hurting today,” Abbott told FOX News. “The people who are hurting the most, obviously, are the families of the victims. Families who lost a loved one. Families who have a loved one who is injured.”
Bream asked Abbott if there are any gun reforms he would push for in Texas or national reforms he thinks should be considered by Congress.
“At the state level, this is something we’ve been grappling with over the past year,” Abbott said. “There are some potential easy solutions, such as passing laws that we are working on right now, to get the guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals and increase penalties for criminals who possess guns.”
Abbott told FOX News that he expects the Texas legislature to approve $3 billion in mental health funding this session.
“There has been a dramatic increase in the amount of anger and violence that is taking place in America and what Texas is doing in a big time way — we are working to address that anger and violence at its root cause, which is the mental health problems behind it,” Abbott said.
President Biden calls for action
In a statement released on Twitter Sunday, President Joe Biden called for more action to save lives and the White House ordered flags to be flown at half-staff.
“Eight Americans, including children, were killed in Allen, Texas yesterday – the latest act of gun violence to devastate our nation,” Biden wrote. “Jill and I are praying for their families and those critically injured. We’re grateful to the first responders who acted quickly and courageously.”
“Such an attack is too shocking to be so familiar,” the president said in the statement. “We need more action, faster to save lives”
“Once again, Congress must send me a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” Biden said. “Enacting universal background checks. Requiring safe storage. Ending immunity for gun manufacturers. I will sign it immediately. We need nothing less to keep our streets safe.”
What local officials have said
In a statement, Allen Mayor Kenneth Fulk said, “We are a strong and caring community and we want all of the victims and their families impacted by this tragedy to know that we will wrap our arms around you, and we are here for you. The City of Allen pledges to offer our complete support. We know you are grieving, we are grieving. Rest assured, the nation and the world are also grieving.”
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker shared in a statement on Twitter Monday her support of a bill that would raise the minimum age required to buy certain firearms.
“We have a crisis,” Parker wrote in the tweet. “Yes, mental health is a part of the solution, but we can’t afford to just stand still waiting for longer-term investments to save our lives. We need immediate action.”
House Bill 2744, which the Texas House Committee on Community Safety voted to send to the main Texas House of Representatives on Monday, would raise the age required for Texans to buy certain semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21.
Help for the victims
GoFundMe has launched a centralized hub where it will link all verified fundraisers related to the shooting.
On GoFundMe, the Allen, TX Shooting Victims’ Fund was created by VictimsFirst to guarantee the families of victims and those wounded will receive 100% of the funds raised. VictimsFirst will work with local victim advocates to distribute these funds.
Communities Foundation of Texas has established the Support for Allen Fund “to collect funds that provide support for those who have been impacted by this senseless tragedy.” Gifts to CFT’s Support for Allen Fund will be directed to local nonprofit agencies that are providing much-needed resources and services, according to a release. This includes agencies providing mental health, grief, and trauma support for the victims and their families, as well as first responders who may also have been impacted. This fund will not provide direct payments to individuals.
A Family Assistance Center that opened earlier in the week will remain open until 7 p.m. Thursday and will open again Friday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Allen Senior Recreation Center, at 451 St. Mary Drive. The center will offer mental health services, spiritual care, and possible financial support, according to an FBI news release.
LifePath Systems, the Collin County Mental Health Authority, is offering free counseling to the community. If you or someone you know needs assistance, call 972-422-5939 or visit the website at LifePathSystems.org.
This report contains material from The Associated Press.
This story was originally published May 6, 2023 at 11:08 PM.
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