Officer saved ‘countless lives’
Killer brought eight legally purchased firearms to Texas mall
ALLEN, Texas — The shooter with neo-nazi leanings who killed eight people at a suburban Dallas shopping mall brought eight legally purchased guns to the scene, chose his victims randomly and was shot dead by police within four minutes, authorities said Tuesday.
The Allen police officer who shot and killed 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia, ending Saturday’s attack, acted heroically and saved “countless lives” through his quick action, Hank Sibley, the regional director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at a news conference. Authorities said the officer is still processing what happened and isn’t ready to have his name made public.
“If he hadn’t have been there, I think we’d have had a much more severe situation,” Sibley said.
The investigation into Garcia’s motive is ongoing, but he expressed neo-nazi beliefs, Sibley said, adding that Garcia had no criminal history before he opened fire at Allen Premium Outlets.
Garcia brought eight guns to the scene, including three that he had on him and five that were still in his vehicle, Sibley said. Garcia obtained all of the weapons legally. President Joe Biden has said the assailant wore tactical gear and fired an Ar-15-style weapon.
Sibley said it seems Garcia “targeted the location, rather than a specific group of people,” adding that, “he was very random in the people he killed.”
“The big question that we’re dealing with right now is, ‘What’s his motive? Why did he do this?’” Sibley said. “Well, the big question is, we don’t know. That’s what the investigation is trying to find out.”
Posts by Garcia on a Russian social networking site suggest that he planned for weeks before he launched the attack in Allen, a diverse community of about 100,000 people roughly 25 miles north of downtown Dallas.
Garcia researched when the mall was busiest — Saturday afternoons — and posted photos on social media in mid-april of a store near where he began shooting people. Among those killed were two elementary schoolage sisters, a couple and their 3-yearold son, and a 20-year-old security guard who was hailed for his bravery in the shooting.
The security guard, Christian Lacour, “evacuated one individual to safety and was shot while courageously remaining to help others,” Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey said.
An Associated Press review of Garcia’s online activity shows he displayed a fascination with white supremacy and mass shootings, which he described as sport. Photos Garcia posted showed large Nazi tattoos on his arm and torso, including a swastika and the SS lightning bolt logo of Hitler’s paramilitary forces.