A law enforcement officer walks as people are evacuated from a shopping centre where a shooting occurred Saturday, May 6, 2023, in Allen, Texas. Photo / AP
A law enforcement officer walks as people are evacuated from a shopping centre where a shooting occurred Saturday, May 6, 2023, in Allen, Texas. Photo / AP
That’s according to three law enforcement officials who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity in order to discuss details of an ongoing investigation.
One of the officials said Garcia had been staying at a nearby hotel. The official said investigators have been searching the motel and a home in the Dallas area connected to the suspect.
The official said police also found multiple weapons at the scene after Garcia was fatally shot by a police officer. The weapons included an AR-15-style rifle and a handgun.
The front entrance of a home connected to suspected mall gunman, Mauricio Garcia that was searched overnight by law enforcement officials. Photo / AP
Eight people were killed and seven wounded following the incident at the outlet mall in suburban Allen when the gunman stepped out of a sedan and opened fire on shoppers. The assailant was killed by a police officer who happened to be nearby, authorities said.
John Mark Caton, senior pastor at Cottonwood Creek Church, about 3km from the mall, offered prayers during his weekly service for victims, first responders and the shoppers and employees who “walked out past things they never should have seen.”
“Some of our people were there. Some perhaps in this room. Some of our students were working in those stores and will be changed forever by this,” Caton said.
Recalling phone conversations with police officers, he said: “There wasn’t an officer that I talked to yesterday that at some point in the call didn’t cry.”
The church planned an evening prayer vigil in the aftermath of the shooting, which was the latest attack to contribute to the unprecedented pace of mass killings this year. Barely a week before, five people were fatally shot in Cleveland, Texas, after a neighbour asked a man to stop firing his weapon while a baby slept, authorities said.
Law enforcement officers at a shopping centre in Allen, Texas after a shooting which left eight dead, including children. Photo / AP
Police did not immediately provide details about the victims at Allen Premium Outlets, a sprawling outdoor shopping centre, but witnesses reported seeing children among them. Some said they also saw what appeared to be a police officer and a mall security guard unconscious on the ground.
A 16-year-old pretzel stand employee, Maxwell Gum, described a virtual stampede of shoppers. He and others sheltered in a storage room.
“We started running. Kids were getting trampled,” Gum said. “My co-worker picked up a 4-year-old girl and gave her to her parents.”
Dashcam video circulating online showed the gunman getting out of a car and shooting at people on the sidewalk. More than three dozen shots could be heard as the vehicle that was recording the video drove off.
There is a video circulating that shows the bodies outside the mall from #allentx. It’s horrific to say the least.
As a Trauma Surgeon, we often are witness to the #AmericanCarnage that results from bullets on the human body.
Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said seven people, including the shooter, died at the scene. Two other people died at hospitals.
Seven people remained hospitalised Sunday — three in critical condition and four in fair condition, the Allen Police Department said in a statement.
An Allen police officer was in the area on an unrelated call when he heard shots at 3.36pm, the department wrote on Facebook.
“The officer engaged the suspect and neutralised the threat. He then called for emergency personnel,” the post said.
Mass killings have happened with staggering frequency in the United States this year, with an average of about one per week, according to a database maintained by the Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.
In a statement, President Biden said the assailant wore tactical gear and fired an AR-15-style weapon. He urged Congress to enact tighter restrictions on firearms and ammunition.
“Such an attack is too shocking to be so familiar. And yet, American communities have suffered roughly 200 mass shootings already this year, according to leading counts,” said Biden, who ordered flags lowered to half-staff.
Republicans in Congress, he said, “cannot continue to meet this epidemic with a shrug.”
Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who has signed laws easing firearms restrictions following past mass shootings, called the mall attack an “unspeakable tragedy.”
Video shared on social media showed people running through a parking lot amid the sound of gunshots.
Fontayne Payton, 35, was at H&M when he heard gunshots through his headphones.
“It was so loud, it sounded like it was right outside,” Payton said.
People in the store scattered before employees ushered the group into the fitting rooms and then a lockable back room, he said. When they were given the all-clear to leave, Payton saw the store had broken windows and a trail of blood to the door. Discarded sandals and bloodied clothes lay nearby.
People leave a shopping centre following reports of a shooting in Allen, Texas. Photo / AP
Once outside, Payton saw bodies.
“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.”
Further away, he saw the body of a heavyset man wearing all black. He assumed it was the shooter, Payton said, because unlike the other bodies it had not been covered.
Tarakram Nunna, 25, and Ramakrishna Mullapudi, 26, said they saw what appeared to be three people motionless on the ground, including one who seemed to be a police officer and another who resembled a mall security guard.
Another shopper, Sharkie Mouli, 24, said he hid in a Banana Republic. As he left, he saw someone who looked like a police officer lying unconscious next to another unconscious person outside the store.
“I have seen his gun lying right next to him and a guy who is like passing out right next to him,” Mouli said.
Stan and Mary Ann Greene were browsing in a Columbia sportswear store when the shooting started.
“We had just gotten in, just a couple minutes earlier, and we just heard a lot of loud popping,” Mary Ann Greene told the Associated Press.
Employees rolled down the security gate and brought everyone to the rear of the store until police arrived and escorted them out, the Greenes said.
Eber Romero was at an Under Armour store when a cashier mentioned there was a shooting.
As he left, the mall appeared empty and all the shops had their security gates down, Romero said. That is when he started seeing broken glass and victims of the shooting on the floor of the shopping centre.
Allen, a city of 105,000 residents, is about 40km north of downtown Dallas.
