Profile apparently linked to Allen gunman shows violence obsession, admiration of Hitler
DALLAS — The gunman in the Allen Premium Outlets massacre appeared to leave a wide-ranging online presence that espoused an obsession with violence and extremist ideology, including admiration for Adolf Hitler and misogynistic views, according to a social media profile reviewed by The Dallas Morning News.
The social media profile included several posts and memes showing admiration for neo-nazis, along with sympathy for a violently misogynistic movement.
The gunman killed eight people and injured seven others on Saturday. He was shot and killed by police.
The profile did not include any document that could be described as a manifesto. But “the thing that stuck out to me was his obsession with violence,” said Alex
Fairfield, an investigative researcher with the Antidefamation League, who also reviewed the profile.
“That seemed to be the big driver behind everything else. Obviously, he was filled with hate — anti-semitism, misogyny, ANTI-LGBTQ comments — but it didn’t seem like there was an overarching ideology.”
The person on the social media account posted scores of hand-written diary pages spanning years, portions of which targeted Asian men and women. The city of Allen has a sizable Asian population — 19% — and the mall is a popular shopping destination for Asian American families. At least four of the eight people killed Saturday were of Asian descent; three were Korean, and one was Indian.
The person who posted on the social media account appeared to stake out the shopping mall where the shooting took place. On
April 15, he posted four pictures from the mall. He also posted a screenshot of a webpage showing how the mall is popular on Saturdays between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. The shooting took place Saturday at about 3:30 p.m.
Authorities have not publicly described a potential motive for the massacre. Pictures of the letters were posted April 17, but it’s not clear when they were all written.
The presence of what appears to be the shooter’s profile was first reported by The New York Times and further described by the investigative journalism group Bellingcat. Several posts and pictures share the same characteristics of what little is publicly known about the shooter, Mauricio Garcia, 33.
The profile shows pictures of the same left-hand tattoo that is visible on the shooter’s body in video taken shortly after he was killed by an Allen police officer. The tattoo resembles the logo for the City of Dallas. A picture of a traffic citation showed the gunman’s full name and described his car as a gray Dodge Charger — the same make and model the gunman was seen driving in videos posted to social media.
One picture shows a chest-mounted ammunition pouch that appears identical to the one seen in video of the shooter’s body.
The profile also includes pictures of a vest with three patches. Two of them appear to be the logo belonging to the Marvel Comics vigilante The Punisher, whose logo has been co-opted by some extremist groups.
The third patch contains the acronym “RWDS” – which stands for “Right Wing Death Squad” – another slogan used by extremist groups.