The Texas mall shooter has been named as 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia.
Garcia, 33, killed eight people – including children – before being shot himself at Allen Premium Outlets on May 6. Investigators now believe he may have been a white supremacist or neo-Nazi who followed extremist ideologies.
The killer fired more than 100 times during his rampage, and he had more ammunition and guns in his car – from which he emerged before the carnage.
Dressed in tactical gear and armed with an AR-15 and a handgun, Garcia opened fire outside an H&M store on a busy Saturday afternoon in Allen, Texas.
He was eventually killed by a police officer – who was on the scene for an unrelated phone call, but rushed over when he heard the gunshots outside the H&M.
Garcia was a security guard, but it’s unclear if he worked at Allen Premium Outlets.
The shooter, Mauricio Garcia, was dressed in SWAT gear with a semi-automatic weapon at his side. He is seen dead outside another Allen store ten yards from the H&M store
His gray car is parked outside his home in Dallas before the shooting
Dashcam footage showed the moment a gunman opened fire, killing several civilians – as police are reportedly on the hunt for a second gunman believed to have aided in the attack
A bouquet of flowers is left in front of the entrance to the Allen Premium Outlet Mall in memory of those killed in the mass shooting that occurred the day before in Allen, Texas
It is also believed that Garcia was living in a motel at the time of the massacre. The police also searched that house and found extra ammunition, WSJ reports.
According to the washington mail, Garcia may have held white supremacist or neo-Nazi beliefs. A patch the gunman wore on his chest hinted at his ideologies – though no formal motive has been released.
This comes after new audio revealed the heroic officer making a frantic phone call, begging his colleagues to join him on the scene, radioing, “I need everyone I’ve got.”
The officer bravely ran up to the active gunner – who was armed with 60 rounds and had shot more than a dozen people at the time – and killed him.
About two minutes after he first called for backup, the officer said, “I got him.” Minutes later, another voice comes on the radio saying, “We have casualties. I need an ambulance.’
The FBI and police raided Garcia’s Dallas home just an hour after the massacre and asked a translator to speak to his family.
Neighbors say they often saw Garcia wearing a guard-type uniform, but that he was “very quiet” and exhibited “very unusual behavior.” His gray Dodge Charger, seen at the scene, was often parked outside the residence.
Mauricio Garcia, the shooter, died on the spot. He was shot dead by a cop, but he had already fired bullets and killed eight people himself
Allen Police officers man the mobile command post the day after the gunman shot several people
Store employees hug as they greet each other the day after a shooting at Allen Premium Outlets on May 7, 2023 in Allen, Texas
Nasir Willis and Hannah McAbee from Denton come to the mall to think as Nasir has a cousin who was here during the shooting
Dashcam video showed gunman Mauricio Garcia getting out of a car on Saturday afternoon and firing at people on the sidewalk. More than three dozen shots were heard as the vehicle recording the video drove away.
Garcia used an AR-15 style weapon during the mass shooting and was dressed in full tactical SWAT gear.
Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd van Allen confirmed that seven people died at the scene, including the gunman, and then two more victims died in hospital.
Three of the injured were in critical condition by evening and four were stable, Boyd said in an update Saturday night.
A medical group in the Dallas area said it was treating victims as young as five.
Investigators have confirmed they believe gunman Garcia worked alone, but they have not yet released a motive for the killings.
Fontayne Payton, 35, was at H&M when he heard the sound of gunfire through his headphones. He said, ‘It was so loud, it sounded like it was outside.
“I pray they weren’t kids, but they looked like kids,” he said.
The bodies were covered with white towels and lay over bags on the floor. “It broke me when I walked out to see that.”
Payton then saw the dead gunman’s body – that was 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 rushing to flee the parking lot after the gunfire began.
She said it rained “non-stop” with bullets. During the ordeal, her car was shot at while trying to escape.
Blakey told CNN, “I told my daughter to get down. I heard her pray.’
Another witness, Sheliza Ramlall, who was at the Nike store when the violence broke out, said, “I had the most horrific experience before. I was standing in line at the Nike store when suddenly people started screaming and running.
The front entrance of a house connected to the suspected mall shooter, Mauricio Garcia
Police and FBI searched the house on Saturday night
Glass is 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
“The people in the doorway saw the man with the gun outside and raised the alarm. We all fell to the ground in line and began to crawl for shelter as we fell over each other.
“I crawled behind the counter. At that point I realized we were in good sight and thought I should get away from the front.
“Looking at the back of the store I heard someone say ‘go back, go back’ and everyone started running at that point. An employee opened the back door and let us out. We stand by the road in shock, 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 flagging the cars to give me a ride.
An elderly woman stopped and I jumped in panic. She started telling me about the gunshots she heard and drove me to my car. I ran out of there with an elevated heart rate.
“I am grateful to our brave rescuers who stopped the shooter and helped people to safety.”
MacKenzie Bates hugs her mother Rochelle where flowers were left at the scene of the shooting
Residents return to recover their vehicles on site
