How the deadly rampage at a Texas outlet mall unfolded
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What we covered here
Texas officials gave an update Tuesday on the shooting at an outlet mall in Allen that killed eight people and injured seven others over the weekend.
The shooter, who was killed by police, appears to have written approvingly about Nazis while sharing images of his many firearms and posting a photo of the mall on social media in the weeks before the shooting.
Multiple weapons owned by the gunman, including the AR-15-style rifle used in the attack, were purchased legally, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Two families lost multiple loved ones in the shooting. It was one of more than 200 mass shootings in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Our live coverage for the day has ended. Follow the latest news here or read through the updates below.
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Friends and family are remembering the 8 people killed in a mass shooting at a Texas mall
From CNN's Christina Zdanowicz and Kelly McCleary
Visitors to a make shift memorial leave flowers at the mall, where several people were killed, in Allen, Texas, on Monday.
Tony Gutierrez/AP
Eight people were killed and at least seven others wounded in a mass shooting at a Texas mall Saturday. The gunman was shot by an Allen police officer who was already at the retail center on an unrelated call, police said.
Among the victims, two families lost multiple loved ones.
Here’s what we know about those killed:
The Cho family: Three Korean Americans – husband Kyu Song Cho, 37, and wife, Cindy Cho, 35, and their 3-year-old child James – were killed in the shooting, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety and a GoFundMe post written by friends and family.
Trinity Whitley knew two members of the Cho family – she was James’ daycare teacher and Cindy was her dentist, she told CNN affiliate WFAA on Monday at a memorial outside the mall.
“He was sweet and smart, and he was so cute,” Whitley told WFAA of James. “I’ve never actually met a 3-year-old that was that smart… He was writing his own name.”
Daniela and Sofia Mendoza: The sisters were elementary school students in the Wylie Independent School District, according to a letter sent to parents by the district. Daniela was in fourth grade and her sister was in second grade, the letter said. Their mother, Ilda Mendoza, is in the hospital in critical condition.
Cox Elementary School Principal Krista Wilson described the sisters as “rays of sunshine” in the letter.
Christian LaCour: A security guard at the mall, LaCour saved a person during the shooting and tried to help others, the City of Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey said Tuesday.
His sister described him as “a sweet, caring young man who was loved greatly by our family.”
Aishwarya Thatikonda: Family and friends described Thatikonda as a loving and hard-working person who was respected by co-workers, Ashok Kolla, a spokesperson with the Telugu Association of North America (TANA) told CNN.
She moved to the United States about five years ago to pursue her master’s degree, Kolla said, which she finished in 2020. Thatikonda lived in Texas, but her family is mourning her loss from their home in India.
Elio Cumana-Rivas: In a statement released Monday, the Texas Department of Public Safety also identified 32-year-old Cumana-Rivas as a victim in the massacre.
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Texas gunman was "very random" in killing victims, official says: "He just shot people"
One of the biggest outstanding questions officials are looking for the answer to is what led the gunman to open fire at the mall.
The gunman appeared to have written approvingly about Nazi ideology while sharing images of his many firearms and posting a photo of the Allen Premium Outlets mall on a social media website in the weeks before the shooting.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Chad Yarbrough said Tuesday that officials are looking through the shooter’s social media presence and analyzing electronic devices.
The shooter appeared to have targeted the location rather than the individual people he killed, according to Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Director Hank Sibley.
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Shooting at Texas outlet mall lasted 3 to 4 minutes, public safety official says
Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Director Hank Sibley speaks during a press conference in Allen, Texas, on Tuesday.
CNN
The shooting at a Texas outlet mall that killed eight people lasted just three or four minutes, according to Hank Sibley, a regional director for the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The shooter was killed by police just minutes after he fired his first shot, Sibley said at a news conference Tuesday.
Sibley added the shooter was “very random in the people he killed” at the mall.
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Texas mall gunman had no criminal history, official says
The shooter who killed eight people at a Texas mall over the weekend did not have any criminal history, officials said.
The gunman had eight weapons with him the day of the shooting — three with him and five in his vehicle, Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Director Hank Sibley said at a press conference.
All of the guns were purchased legally, he said, and now investigators are running checks on them to see if they had been used in any previous crimes.
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HAPPENING NOW: Officials give update on Allen, Texas, outlet mall shooting
Texas officials are giving an update on the investigation into a shooting at an outlet mall that killed eight people and injured seven others over the weekend.
Since the shooting, police have released more information about the suspected gunman and the victims, but have not determined a motive.
The Texas Department of Public Safety is hosting the news conference Tuesday. Representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Allen Police Department are also expected to be there.
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People at the Texas mall described scenes of devastation as the shooter opened fire
From CNN's Josh Campbell, Ed Lavandera, Elizabeth Wolfe and Sara Smart
Emergency personnel work the scene of a shooting at Allen Premium Outlets on May 6 in Allen, Texas.
Stewart F. House/Getty Images
Warning: This post contains graphic descriptions of violence.
Accounts from people caught in the gunfire when a man started shooting at an Allen, Texas, mall over the weekend paint a picture of fear and devastation.
Mauricio Garcia, who has been identified as the suspect by police, began firing in the parking lot near the mall’s H&M store after he got out of his car, according to video obtained by CNN.Another witness video shows shoppers — some with small children — screaming, running and ducking behind rows of cars as the shots ring out.
As the gunman entered and made his way through the mall, shoppers yelled warnings to each other and fled as many store employees rushed to shelter customers in storage rooms or back hallways, according to several witness accounts.
Max Weiss, an 18-year-old mall store employee, described hiding with coworkers and customers in a pair of rooms at the back of the store as “the most terrifying moment of my life.”
Andria Gaither had just gotten back from her lunch break on Saturday around 3:30 p.m. local time when the shooting began, she told CNN.
Gaither said she was in the back of the store when she noticed two young girls who began hiding in the clothing rack and fitting room. She said her boss was ushering customers into the back of the store to hide from the gunfire.
Joshua Barnwell, a Navy combat veteran who has training in emergency care, hid in the Lucky Brand store at the mall when the shooting erupted – and when he felt it was safe to do so, he left the store to go tend to those injured.
When he arrived in front of the H&M store, he noticed gunshot-blasted windows and then he saw several victims lying in the area, including a child who was dead, and other people with vicious injuries in a landscaped area.
Steven Spainhouer rushed to the scene after receiving a call from his son, who works at the H&M and had taken shelter in a break room. When he arrived in the parking lot outside the store, he “started counting the bodies on the ground … one, two, three, five, six, seven bodies.”
Allen police subsequently disputed parts of Spainhouer’s account, noting “inconsistencies” between his media interviews and the facts of the investigation. The department said it conducted a follow-up interview with Spainhouer and “determined that [he] is not a credible incident witness.”
According to the police department, Spainhouer did not perform CPR and did not move a deceased mother who was covering a child who survived the shooting.
In response, Spainhouer stood by his account, said he was “hurt and disappointed,” and clarified that “a small child pulled himself from under a victim and I assisted him to a safe space away from the area.”
This post was updated on May 16 to reflect the Allen Police Department’s statement disputing parts of Steven Spainhouer’s eyewitness account — and Spainhouer’s response to the police press release.
CNN’s Ashley Killough, Michelle Watson, Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Bob Ortega, Curt Devine, Keith Allen, Jillian Sykes, Holly Yan, Christina Maxouris, Sharif Paget and Jason Kravarik contributed to this report.
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Pentagon clarifies that mall shooter was not a veteran, despite brief military training
From CNN's Haley Britzky and Michael Conte
The mass shooter who killed eight people at an outlet mall in Texas is not a military veteran despite having spent time in military training, the Defense Department said.
“According to federal regulations, this individual, in terms of the time of service, would not qualify as a veteran,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday.
Mauricio Garcia was terminated after three months in the Army and did not complete basic training, according to an Army spokesperson Monday.
Garcia entered the Army in June 2008 but was not given a specific job, called a military occupational specialty, said Army spokesperson Heather Hagan.
He had no deployments or awards during his short time in the Army, Hagan added.
A US Defense official previously said Garcia was separated because of a mental health condition. Garcia received a mental health evaluation before his separation, the official said.
CNN’s Oren Liebermann and Natasha Bertrand contributed reporting to this post.
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Here's what we know so far about the deadly Texas mall shooting
From CNN staff
Emergency vehicles line the entrance to the Allen Premium Outlets where a shooting took place on May 6 in Allen, Texas.
Stewart F. House/Getty Images
Police are continuing to investigate what led a gunman to open fire at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas, over the weekend.
Eight people were killed and seven more were wounded in the shooting Saturday, officials said.
These are the victims:
Christian LaCour, a well-liked security guard at the outlets, his sister said.
Aishwarya Thatikonda moved to the US from India five years ago and worked as an engineer, CNN affiliate WFAA reported.
Elio Cumana-Rivas was from Dallas, Texas, the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement.
Sisters Daniela Mendoza, a fourth-grader, and Sofia Mendoza, a second-grader, were killed and their mother is still in critical condition, the girls’ school district said in a letter.
Gunman identified: The shooter, who dressed in tactical gear, was identified as 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia. He had worked for at least three security companies and had attended hours of firearms proficiency training in recent years, according to a database maintained by the Texas Department of Public Safety. He also served in the military for three months but was removed due to physical or mental health conditions, an army spokesperson said.
Ongoing investigation: Authorities are investigating whether the shooter was motivated by right-wing extremism, a senior law enforcement source said. He appeared to have written approvingly about Nazi ideology while sharing images of his many firearms and posting a photo of the Allen Premium Outlets mall on a social media website in the weeks before the shooting.
The weapons: The shooter was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and had at least one other weapon on him when he was gunned down by police, a senior law enforcement source told CNN. Police also found multiple weapons in his car. Those weapons were purchased legally from private sellers, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Calls for action: Several Democratic Texas state lawmakers are demanding action and say gun safety proposals have gone nowhere in the legislature. The White House also called on Congress to act on a federal level, saying gun violence is “a crisis that the Republicans in Congress are refusing to address,” press secretaryKarine Jean-Pierre said.
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Texas state lawmakers criticize inaction on gun control legislation in wake of outlet mall shooting
From CNN’s Cheri Mossburg
Texas Democratic state lawmakers are speaking out with frustration, anger and even tears over the gun safety proposals that have languished in the legislative session and demanding action be taken.
“Texans want common sense gun reform,” state Sen. Carol Alvarado said at a news conference in Austin. “This is insane, y’all. This is absolutely nuts that we are standing here again,” she said, noting that 39 gun reform bills have been proposed and there’s yet to be a hearing on a single one.
The comments came after a gunman killed eight people at a shopping mall in an affluent Texas suburb on Saturday, the second-deadliest US mass shooting of the year.
“That’s why we’re here today, because Gov. (Greg) Abbott and (Lt. Gov.) Dan Patrick and everybody like them have made this country, this state more dangerous by having no gun laws,” said state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who represents Uvalde, the site of another mass shooting in Texas in May 2022.
Elements of the pending proposals address mental health, implementing age restrictions on gun ownership, adding red flag protective orders and closing gun show loopholes.
One specific bill, HB 2744, which aims to raise the legal age for owning an AR-15-style semiautomatic weapon to 21, remains in committee.
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