Texas mall shooting: Officials probe gunman’s possible far-right links

Federal authorities are investigating whether the gunman who killed eight people including children at a Dallas shopping mall had far-right links.

The 33-year-old attacker was shot dead at the scene by a police officer who was responding to an unrelated call.

Investigators are now reviewing social media to look into his beliefs, reports CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

During the attack, the suspect wore an insignia which has been associated with hate groups.

Six people were pronounced dead at the scene in the north Dallas suburbs, while two died later in hospital. Three of the injured - ranging in age from 5 to 61are still in hospital.

Three members of one family, a young security guard and an engineer from India were among those killed.

The gunman, named by investigators as Mauricio Garcia, used an AR-15 style rifle and wore combat tactical gear during the shooting, with multiple rounds of ammunition found on him.

Witnesses described scenes of panic and horror when the gunman got out of his car in a mall parking lot and began firing on shoppers.

During the attack the killer wore a clothing patch with the letters RWDS, which stands for “Right Wing Death Squad”.

This is a phrase popular among rightwing extremists and white supremacy groups.

One line of enquiry is whether he was motivated by these ideals and whether he had links to like-minded people, a law enforcement source told CBS.

According to the US defence department, the suspect entered the US Army in June 2008 and was “terminated three months later without completing initial entry training” due to “physical or mental conditions”.

The shooting comes days after five people were killed elsewhere in Texas following a dispute with a neighbour. And on Sunday one person was killed and two injured in a shooting on a train in Dallas.

There have been 201 mass shootings this year according to the Gun Violence Archive which defines such incidents as four people injured or killed.

President Joe Biden described the rampage as “the latest act of gun violence to devastate our nation”, and called for Congress to pass tougher gun laws.

He confirmed that children were among those killed, saying that “too many families have empty chairs at their dinner tables”.

The Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, told Fox News Sunday his aim was to target the possession of weapons by criminals and deal with a rising mental health crisis, rather than consider wider bans.

“People want a quick solution,” he said. “The long term solution here is to address the mental health issue.”

The attacker was reportedly working as a security guard at the time of the shooting and did not have a serious criminal record. Officials have searched his parents’ home and a nearby extendedstay motel where he had been recently living.

Warning: You may find descriptions below upsetting Footage seemed to show the suspect stepping out of his vehicle in the mall car park, and opening fire on people walking nearby without warning.

One woman working in the mall said the first she knew about the attack was a customer approaching her and warning: “You all need to close the doors.”

“I was confused. Next thing you know, we hear gunshots... all you hear is like 50, 60 gunshots,” she said.

“We kept our calm as best that we could, tried to keep our customers calm... we shut the door, everything is closed. Nobody can buy anything. We’re all hiding in the back.

Another witness, Elaine Penicaro, said she was finishing her shopping trip when she heard “all this popping”.

“So we kind of just all just stopped. But then a second later, like pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. And we saw sparks flying like it was right in front of us,” she said. “So we just ran into the Converse store. They locked the door. We all hunkered down in the back - and that’s where we stayed.”

Speaking to CBS, Steven Spainhouer described how he rushed to the scene after getting a call from his son who reported shooting. He spoke of “unfathomable carnage”.

He said at least three victims could not be saved even after he applied CPR. “The first girl I walked up to was crouched down covering her head in the bushes,” he recalled. “So I felt for a pulse, pulled her head to the side, and she had no face.”

He helped a boy who was under his mother’s dead body.

“When I rolled the mother over, he came out. I asked him if he was OK and he said, ‘My mom is hurt, my mom is hurt’. So, rather than traumatise him any more, I pulled him around the corner and sat him down.”

The boy was “covered from head to toe” in blood, Mr Spainhouer said.

Allen Police on the scene at the mall on Sunday

Allen is a racially diverse suburb north of Dallas and has an infamous connection with another recent mass shooting.

A man who lived there in 2019 went on a gun rampage at a Walmart in El Paso, killing 23 people, after posting a racist manifesto online. In February he pleaded guilty to hate crime charges.