About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

9 Replies to “Apparently a counter-narrative mass shooting in Texas”

  1. NYT 10:45 PM – At Least 9 Dead, Including Gunman, in Shooting at Texas Mall

    The gunman was killed at the Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, Texas, on Saturday. The person acted alone and the motive was unclear.

    A gunman opened fire at a crowded mall outside Dallas on Saturday, killing at least eight people and injuring at least seven before a police officer killed him, the authorities said, turning a busy afternoon of shopping into a chaotic and tragic scene.

    At a news conference Saturday night, Brian E. Harvey, the chief of police in Allen, Texas, did not immediately identify a gunman but said the person acted alone. Chief Harvey said a police officer, who was on an unrelated assignment at the mall at the time of the shooting, heard gunfire, rushed toward it and killed the gunman.

    A spokesman for Medical City Healthcare, which was treating several victims at three trauma facilities, said the ages of the injured ranged from 5 to 61.

    The gunfire erupted around 3:30 p.m. at the Allen Premium Outlets as throngs of shoppers filled the outdoor mall, which is about 25 miles north of Dallas and has more than 120 stores. Videos circulating on social media show people dashing for shelter or running through a parking lot as loud popping noises can be heard in the background.

    Seven people, including the gunman, were pronounced dead at the mall. Officials could account for at least nine people who were transported to hospitals, but more victims may have been taken in private vehicles, the Allen fire chief, Jonathan Boyd, said. Two of those died later. Three were in critical condition and four in stable condition.

    […]

    In Allen, Texas, witnesses described a familiar scene of pandemonium after the gunfire erupted around 3:30 p.m. local time.

    Geoffrey Keaton was having lunch with his 16-year-old daughter at Fatburger in the outlet mall when they heard gunshots.

    “I immediately knew,” Mr. Keaton said. “I got my baby girl under the counter to shield her, and then they got louder, like he was right there.”

    Mr. Keaton said the restaurant’s manager allowed customers to hide in the back, where they were able to exit through a rear door and run to their cars.

    “You could see bodies of people he had shot on the sidewalk,” Mr. Keaton said.

    A livestream from a local Fox television affiliate showed scores of shoppers being evacuated in an orderly fashion from shops like H&M, Michael Kors, American Eagle and Kay Jewelers.

    Kaleo Palakiko, 36, was with his parents shopping for an upcoming vacation in the Tory Burch store when they saw people running outside.

    “It was just kind of chaotic for a second. Then when someone said, ‘shooter,’ we all ran to the back of the store,” Mr. Palakiko said. “As Americans, we’re used to this, because everyone knew exactly what to do.”

    Mr. Palakiko and his parents hid in a storeroom for about 45 minutes before they were released by police and walked out with their hands in the air. Mr. Palakiko said they walked by stores with shattered window panes.

    Brayson Jones, 17, had arrived early for his shift at the Champs Sports outlet store and was sitting in his car when he heard “probably 20-plus shots” and saw people running out of stores, he said.

    Mr. Jones said a stranger ran toward his car and motioned to let him inside, and then the two drove away.

    “As soon as I heard the shots and people yelling, I didn’t wait to see what was going on, I backed out and got out of there,” he said.

    Four hours after the shooting, the police were starting to allow some people to retrieve their cars that were left behind at the outlet. Others would have to wait until tomorrow.

    There were also concerns about severe thunderstorms in the area. The Red Cross was assisting those who had no way of getting back home. Others were slowly reuniting with loved ones who drove up to a gas station nearby, cramming strollers and shopping bags into cars and embracing before driving off.

    Representative Keith Self, who represents Allen, Texas, said on CNN that critics who are calling for more than “thoughts and prayers” after Saturday’s shooting “don’t believe in almighty God, who is absolutely in control of our lives” and instead said the country’s lack of “mental health institutions” is to blame.

    “Really I would like to stay away from the politics today because I want to focus on the victims, today we should be focused on the families,” he said. “Prayers are important and they are important in the families that are devastated right now.”

    In a statement, Kris Brown, the president of the gun violence prevention organization Brady, noted the long list of shootings in a short week.

    “A house, a doctors’ office, and now a mall,” he said. “These horrific tragedies are occurring with increasing regularity and it’s clear there’s no place in this country where Americans are safe from gun violence. But this will continue to be our reality unless and until the U.S. changes its relationship with guns and our lawmakers finally answer to the American people, not the gun lobby.”

    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/06/us/allen-mall-texas-shooting.html

    • DAILY MAIL – 11:33 PM – Eight – including children – are killed in Texas mall massacre: Cops shoot dead gunman dressed as SWAT, wearing tactical vest, armor and multiple magazines for assault weapon

      + PICS

      The shooting happened in Allen, a small suburb Dallas, at an outdoor outlet mall

      Local police said that the scene is still active, and have yet to confirm any arrest

      Shoppers were seen fleeing stores in footage seen circulating on social media

      […]Dashcam footage shows the moment the gunman, dressed in full SWAT garb, pull up to the outdoor outlet before opening fire on unsuspecting civilians, using an AR-15 to mow down a crowd that included children.

      Cops for the most part had kept quiet as to the exact extent of the tragedy prior to specifying the number casualties – releasing sparse statements confirming several were killed, without specifying how many and whether a shooter was still at large.

      However, disturbing footage captured at the scene – as well as multiple witness accounts – laid bare some of what had transpired, showing at least four bloodied bodies lying outside the H&M where the gunman was seen beginning his assault.

      […]Another distressing clip, filmed a few stores away, showed the deceased gunman shortly after he was gunned down himself by the unnamed Allen officer who instantly ran toward the sound of then ongoing gunfire.

      […]Footage captured by a Fox helicopter showed at least four dead bodies outside the H&M store seen in newly surfaced video of the first gunman, which showed him opening fire on several unsuspecting victims after pulling up to the shop in a grey Dodge Charger.

      […]Distressing video footage of the same site hours later showed bloodied corpses surrounded by items including backpacks suggesting some of those slain were children.

      In another disturbing snippet, the deceased gunman is seen laying dead outside another Allen store on a few dozen feet from the H&M. He is seen dressed in tactile gear with a semi-automatic rile at his side.

      […]The suspect’s identity has not been released,

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12055177/Multiple-victims-reported-shot-active-shooter-Allen-Premium-Outlets.html

    • PIC :

      https://www.jantakareporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Mauricio-Garcia.webp
      ============================================

      DAILY MAIL – Texas mall massacre gunman ‘had neo-Nazi beliefs’: Mauricio Garcia, 33, worked as security guard before firing AR-15 more than 100 times, killing eight people, including children

      Mauricio Garcia was named as the shooter who killed eight people on Saturday at Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, Texas

      Investigators believe he may have been a white supremacist or neo-Nazi who followed extremists ideologies
      […]

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12057123/Texas-mall-massacre-suspect-named-33-year-old-Mauricio-Garcia.html

    • WaPo – Texas gunman’s white supremacist views eyed as possible motive

      Investigators found a patch on the dead man’s chest that said “RWDS,” an acronym for
      Right Wing Death Squad

      ALLEN, Tex. — The 33-year-old gunman who opened fire on an outlet mall in a Dallas suburb Saturday, killing at least eight people, had an apparent fascination with white supremacist or neo-Nazi beliefs that are now being examined by investigators as a possible motive for the attack, people familiar with the investigation said Sunday.

      Mauricio Garcia, a local resident, had multiple weapons on him and five additional guns in his car nearby, said people familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing probe.

      Authorities have not released a motive, but a patch on his chest said “RWDS,” an acronym that stands for Right Wing Death Squad , according to people familiar with the investigation. The phrase is popular among right wing extremists, neo-Nazis and white supremacists, they said, and while there is still a great deal of evidence to analyze and authorities have not reached any conclusions yet, investigators are approaching the shooting as a possible hate crime.

      Witnesses said the gunman’s tactical vest was also packed with ammunition clips, indicating just how much carnage he hoped to inflict at one of the most common places for Americans to gather on the weekends — a shopping mall. Panicked video from the scene showed adults running as fast as they could to get away from the crack of rifle fire, their shopping bags flapping around them as they sprinted across the parking lot. One young boy in a red t-shirt ran away while screaming “run,” a look of terror on his face.

      The shooter also injured at least seven people before a police officer who happened to be at the mall on an unrelated call fatally shot him at about 3:30 p.m., Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey said Saturday. Authorities believe that the gunman acted alone and that there were no further threats, Harvey said.

      At least one of the victims was a child, according to officials and witness accounts. A person wearing a security uniform was among the dead, according to several witnesses, but it was unclear whether the guard was on duty at the time. A witness described finding a young boy alive under the corpse of his mother, who died protecting him.

      The assailant was living in a Dallas-area hotel at the time of the shooting, according to the people familiar with the investigation. Since the gunman is dead, a major focus of investigators is whether anyone knew what he planned to do or helped him do it. The gunman’s parents have been cooperating with authorities, these people said.

      Six victims were found dead at the scene, and nine people who had been injured were taken to hospitals by the local fire department, Allen Fire Chief Jon Boyd said Saturday. Two of them died at the hospital. At least three people remained in critical condition as of Sunday morning, police said.

      The victims being treated at Medical City Healthcare trauma facilities ranged from 5 to 61 years old, said Kathleen Beathard, a spokeswoman for the hospital system.

      Sherry Tutt was shopping at Victoria’s Secret on Saturday when she heard booming sounds. People started rushing onto the store, she said, and someone yelled, “‘They’re shooting!’”

      Tutt and her fiancé hurried into a storage area with a few dozen other customers, hiding among boxes. She said panic spread when the group had trouble getting through to 911. One woman was crying.

      After about an hour, police escorted the group out of the store, telling them that if they had kids, they should cover their eyes. Passing Fat Burger, Tutt glimpsed two bodies — a sight she described as “something I will never unsee.”

      At the Allen outlet mall, all the stores were closed Sunday, and police blocked entrances to the center of the complex. The parking lot in the center of the mall was packed with cars, which shoppers and employees had not been allowed to retrieve by mid-Sunday.

      In a statement, Allen Premium Outlets said it was “outraged by the violence that continues to plague our country,” and thanked the police response.

      “We are thankful for the police officer’s heroic actions and for the support of all the first responders,” the statement read.

      Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) told “Fox News Sunday” that he was going to Allen on Sunday. The Dallas FBI office said it is assisting the investigation.

      Biden ordered flags flown at half-staff through Thursday in recognition of the shooting victims. In a statement, he expressed condolences for the victims and called on Republican members of Congress to support a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, among other changes to gun laws.

      “We need more action, faster to save lives,” he said. “Too many families have empty chairs at their dinner tables.”

      Aerial footage of the scene, about 25 miles northeast of Dallas, showed what appeared to be bodies underneath white sheets on the ground outside an H&M outlet, where much of the violence was concentrated.

      Steven Spainhouer pulled up to the mall minutes after his son, an H&M employee, called and said a shooter was inside the store. Spainhouer, 63, who said he was an Army and law enforcement veteran, arrived to find people running on the freeway and the streets. Police and paramedics were not yet on scene.

      Spainhouer described trying to help people who were shot outside H&M. He started with a girl who was in a “praying position” in the bushes outside the store. “I felt for a pulse,” recalled Spainhouer, who now works in risk management. “There was none. I pulled her head back. There was no face.”

      Helen Bennett said she and her daughter were in the HanesBrands store when the manager saw someone in the parking lot exiting a car with a weapon. Everyone inside locked themselves in a storeroom, where they hoped fervently that bullets would not fly through the walls. A mother rocked her baby to keep the child from crying.

      “As soon as we got in the backroom, we heard the shots — BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!,” Bennett said.

      Colin Palakiko, a 36-year-old cook, said had gone to the mall to do some shopping for an upcoming vacation to Hawaii. He was in a Tory Burch shoe store with his mother when a girl ran in and said there was a shooter outside.

      After taking shelter in the store for 45 minutes, the police led them outside in a single file. He heard a woman screaming frantically — she was saying another vehicle that was shot up was her boyfriend’s.

      “That was the most horrifying sound I ever heard,” Palakiko said.

      Then Palakiko started seeing bodies. There was a person Palakiko thought was a mall security guard on the ground in a white security uniform — he had been shot in the front of his body and was laying face down.

      Deirdra Gordon, who was visiting from Arkansas, said she wept as police led her and others out of Banana Republic after the shooting. She and her husband, Bobby Gordon, said they saw several bodies, including a person in a security uniform and someone they thought was the shooter.

      Nearby, a police officer helped a man with a leg wound exit a restaurant. The Gordons also saw bullet holes in store windows and the windshield of a gray sedan.

      “It was just a beautiful Saturday,” Deirdra Gordon said. “It was just nice, and then all of a sudden, no one wanted to believe that that’s what was happening.”

      A local mother, Sonia Ali, whose son was working at the mall during the shooting told The Post that many of her son’s fellow high school students work in the mall. Ali’s son was not physically harmed by the shooting. The school has emailed students, offering to help those experiencing trauma from the shooting, she said.

      Abbott told Fox that his priority in response to mass killings is to address mental health crises, rather than tighten gun regulations. (Research shows that stricter gun laws could lessen the severity of mass killings and may decrease overall gun violence.)

      “We’ve got to find a way in this country where we can once again reunite Americans as Americans and come together in one big family and in that regard, find ways to reduce violence in our country,” Abbott told the TV network.

      […]

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/05/07/texas-allen-outlets-shooting-dallas/

    • twitter @CitizenFreePres

      WSJ — “Authorities looking into the motive for the mass shooting at a Texas mall on Saturday are investigating the gunman’s possible links to white-supremacist ideology.”

      https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1655280652147904512

      ===============================

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fvjh4Z1WwAEUk4x?format=jpg&name=large

      ================================
      MAY 07 2023 – WSJ – Law Enforcement Investigating Texas Mall Shooter’s Possible Link to White Supremacy

      Gunman used an AR-15-style rifle in the shooting spree outside of Dallas

      Authorities looking into the motive for the mass shooting at a Texas mall on Saturday are investigating the gunman’s possible links to white-supremacist ideology, law-enforcement officials with knowledge of the probe said.

      The gunman is accused of killing eight people and injuring seven others after opening fire at Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, Texas. He used an AR-15-style rifle in the attack and multiple other firearms were found at the scene, according to law-enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation.

      More than 100 fired cartridges were also found at the crime scene, a suburban mall outside of Dallas, one of the officials said.

      Officials stressed that it was early in the investigation and no definitive motive had been determined. Investigators were trying to piece together his final days before the massacre and tracking down his associates.

      Authorities searched a hotel where the gunman was believed to have been staying and found additional ammunition, some of the officials said. The gunman was wearing body armor, they said.

      The shooting began around 3:30 p.m. local time and sent panicked shoppers fleeing into stores inside the shopping center while officers from state and federal agencies rushed to the site along with the Allen Police Department.

      A police officer who was in the area on an unrelated call heard the gunshots at the mall and engaged the suspect, the Allen Police Department said.

      The officer “neutralized the threat,” the department said.

      Mary Ann Greene, 71 years old, was browsing in a store at Allen Premium Outlets with her husband on Saturday when she heard gunfire and looked out the window.
      “I saw people running,” she said. “I shouted ‘Lock that door!’”

      Store employees secured the entrance and moved the couple along with about 30 other customers into a stockroom in the back, Mrs. Greene said. People were frightened but calm during the roughly 90 minutes it took for officers to come and get them, she said.

      “We could hear gunshots, and we heard lots of sirens,” said Mrs. Greene, who runs a preschool program in Dallas.

      About 15 heavily armed officers escorted the customers outside when the shooting stopped, she said.

      Mrs. Greene said she saw a silver car with bullet holes in its windshield and its side windows smashed out. On the ground, there was a man in black lying in blood, she said.
      There were other bodies on the ground that had been covered, she said. From one cover, she said she saw “a little leg with a little shoe.”

      Officers found seven people dead at the scene, including the gunman, and took nine wounded to area hospitals. Two of the victims later died, bringing the death toll to nine, authorities said.

      Allen, a city of approximately 100,000 residents, is located in north central Texas, approximately 25 miles north of downtown Dallas.

      Allen Mayor Ken Fulk said that he had received calls from the White House and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott offering support for shooting victims.

      “Allen is a proud and safe city which makes [this] senseless act of violence even more shocking,” the mayor said.

      President Biden in a statement said the violence was shocking but all too familiar.
      “Once again I ask Congress to send me a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Enacting universal background checks. Requiring safe storage. Ending immunity for gun manufacturers,” he said. “I will sign it immediately.”

      Saturday’s attack comes roughly a week after a man in Cleveland, Texas, fatally shot five people, including a child, on April 28, authorities said. The man used an AR-15-style assault weapon to shoot his neighbors after they asked him to stop firing his weapons outside at night.

      Allen’s mass shooting ranks as one of the deadliest to date in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The nonprofit research group that tracks mass shootings, defined as at least four people shot excluding the gunman.

      Eleven people were killed in a mass shooting at a Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey Park, Calif., on Jan. 21.

      Three victims remain in critical condition and four others are in stable condition, according to Jonathan Boyd, chief of the Allen Fire Department.

      A spokeswoman for Medical City Healthcare said it treated at least eight victims at three trauma facilities, ranging in age from 5 to 61 years old.

      Many of the deadliest mass shootings in the U.S. have involved assault-style rifles like the AR-15. AR-15-style rifles, which are widely popular in the U.S., are semiautomatic and allow someone to fire rapidly and use high-capacity magazines or other accessories.

      https://archive.ph/iDq20#selection-479.0-515.15