‘Man Who Killed Eight At Mall Identified’
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
DALLAS, USA (Worthy News) – The man who allegedly shot and killed eight people at an outlet mall in the U.S. state of Texas before being fatally shot by police has been identified as 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia, law enforcement officials say.
Law enforcement investigators have been searching the motel and a home in the Dallas area linked to the suspect, according to sources familiar with the case.
Police reportedly found several weapons at the scene in the Dallas suburb of Allen, including an AR-15-style rifle and a handgun.
On Sunday, authorities were picking through shattered glass and shell casings at the Allen Premium Outlets outdoor mall where a police officer fatally shot Garcia. No motive was immediately clear for Saturday’s attack.
Besides those killed, at least three injured people were fighting for their lives in hospital, authorities said.
Mall workers, shoppers, and relatives said they would never forget when a peaceful area turned into a war zone with people fleeing for the shooter.
Steven Spainhouer rushed to the mall after his son, who was barricaded inside the H&M store break room, called him frantically, he recalled. The former police officer said he pulled a young boy, covered in blood, from underneath his wounded mother.
TRAIL OF BLOOD
“The trail of blood from where the victims were laying to the police car will stick in my head forever,” Spainhouer told reporters.
Spainhouer said he was one of the first to arrive at the outlet before police got to the scene. Seven people were on the ground, shot in front of the mall. He began checking for pulses among the victims.
One victim died as Spainhouer performed CPR on him. “There was nothing I could do,” he said.
Jaquetta Jones, 39, also received a call from her son, Jamal, 20, who was eating at a hamburger restaurant in the mall when the shooting began, the NBC News site reported.
“He called me … and he was very muffled, stating, ‘Mom, there’s an active shooter. We’re hiding in a bathroom,’” Jones reportedly said.
Her son and his friends were safely evacuated.
RUSHING TO STORE
NBC News quoted Rama Bataineh, a 20-year-old Coach store employee who was on her lunch break when the shooting occurred.
When she rushed back to the store, the main entrance was locked by a store manager, who opened a back door for her to enter.
“I went inside, and all the customers, all the employees, everyone was in the back sitting on the floor. Everyone was terrified,” Bataineh recalled.
When the shooting stopped, cops escorted the group outside, where Bataineh encountered a horrific scene. “I saw a body; there was a guy in front of me. I didn’t sleep all night. I’d wake up and throw up,” she said.
The Allen outlet shooting marked the seventh mass shooting in Texas since the Uvalde massacre that killed 21 people, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press news agency and USA Today publication in partnership with Northeastern University.
Residents in the area described feeling a growing sense of exasperation at the frequency of the shootings in the region and nationwide.
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