The man who claimed to be a good Samaritan during the Texas mall massacre has been accused of lying and called an ‘uncredible witness’ by cops.
The Allen Police Department said it believes former Army officer Steven Spainhouer has spent the week since the shooting spreading false information.
Spainhouer had claimed in several interviews that he stumbled upon the Allen Premium Outlets after his son – who worked at the mall – called him about the shooting.
An investigation into his claims that a victim “did not have a face” and that he had located a young boy hiding under his dead mother showed “inconsistencies”, police said.
“The Allen Police Department wishes to advise the public of discrepancies with statements made by a witness to multiple media outlets,” police said.
Man who claimed to be a Good Samaritan who arrived at the scene of the Texas mall massacre and provided first aid to victims has been called an ‘uncredible witness’ by police
The shooting happened at the Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, Texas – a small suburb north of Dallas, and saw at least eight people killed
The shooter, Mauricio Garcia, was dressed in SWAT gear with a semi-automatic rifle by his side. We see him lying dead in front of another Allen store, about ten meters from the H&M store
The Allen Police Department has now urged the media to stop sharing his story about the “gaps” in his story.
“Inconsistencies between these public accounts and investigative facts led the Allen Police Department to conduct a follow-up interview. During this interview, detectives determined that Mr. Spainhouer was not a credible witness to the incident,” police said.
Following his interviews, Spainhouer was hailed as a hero for his actions. He then called for gun reform in Texas despite being “someone who loves guns.”
In their new statement, police said Spainhouer was at the scene the day of the mass shooting, but arrived after an officer had already shot and killed shooter Mauricio Garcia.
Spainhouer “did not perform CPR or administer first aid” and “did not move a deceased mother covering a living child,” police said.
In response to Allen’s police allegations, the veteran doubled down on his claims.
Spainhouer said he believes the police timeline and his own story may be true.
Spainhouer (right) with his son who he says was inside H&M on the day of the shooting
Allen Police Department officials said they believe former Army officer Steven Spainhouer has spent the week since the shooting spreading false information.
“I know what I did and didn’t do while waiting for Allen Police and Fire Department,” Spainhouer (right) wrote in a Facebook post over the weekend.
Face-to-face Alexa Keith receives a hug from a stranger passing outside the mall a day after a mass shooting at Allen Premium Outlets
In his lengthy Facebook post on Monday, the Army veteran explained his own timeline and tried to clear up any “inconsistencies.”
“When I arrived at the H&M store, there was a person asking for my help,” Spainhouer wrote.
“If there were other first responders there before I showed up, I would have no way of knowing.”
“If the Allen police were at the mall before me, I would have no way of knowing because they weren’t at the H&M store where most of the victims were,” he continued on Facebook. .
“I know what I did and didn’t do while waiting for the Allen Police and Fire Department,” he continued.
“I know there were people who died and couldn’t be treated with CPR. I know because I was there.
I didn’t move any victims except the first one I found to watch over her. A small child pulled himself out from under a victim and I helped him to safety away from the area.
“Instead of targeting me on what I did or didn’t do, maybe the Allen police can explain why it took 20 minutes to get to the H&M store, where there were injured victims, if they were already there, before I got there,” he wrote.
The battle of words between Spainhouer and the Allen Police Department comes nearly two weeks after the May 6 massacre at the mall.
Nine people – including the shooter – were killed and 10 were injured.
Several casualties have been reported after an active shooter opened fire on an outdoor shopping center – one of the gunmen is now believed to be dead and another still at large
During filming, Garcia allegedly used an AR-15 style rifle, a civilian adaptation of the Army’s M-16 and M-4 rifle platforms.
A social media account that appears to belong to Garcia is littered with photos of Nazis, guns and ammunition as well as extremist rants about Jews, women and racial minorities.
In an interview with MSNBC, Spainhouer advocated for gun control.
“It wasn’t sanity that killed these people,” he said. “It was an automatic rifle with bullets.”
In the weeks leading up to the senseless mass shooting at Allen Premium Outlets near Dallas, more than two dozen photos of the mall and surrounding area were uploaded to an account on the OK.RU platform.
