A gunman opened fire on an outlet mall in a Dallas suburb on Saturday afternoon, killing at least eight people — including children — and injuring at least seven others before he was fatally shot by a police officer, authorities said.
The officer was at the mall in Allen, Tex., on an unrelated call when he heard gunshots at around 3:30 p.m. local time, found the suspected gunman and fatally shot him, Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey said Saturday evening. Authorities believe the gunman acted alone and that there were no further threats, Harvey said.
Children were among the victims at Allen Premium Outlets, said Rep. Keith Self (R), who represents the area and said local authorities briefed him by phone after the shooting. Self said unconfirmed reports of a second shooter were false.
Six of the eight people killed were found dead at the scene. At least nine people injured in the shooting were taken to hospitals by the local fire department, Allen Fire Chief Jon Boyd said. Two of them died, and as of late Saturday, three others remained critically injured. More people could have been injured and transported in personal vehicles, Boyd said.
Children were also among those injured. The victims being treated at Medical City Healthcare trauma facilities ranged from 5 to 61 years old, said Kathleen Beathard, a spokeswoman for the hospital system.
Aerial footage of the scene, about 25 miles northeast of Dallas, showed what appeared to be bodies underneath white sheets on the ground outside an H&M outlet. Other videos posted on social media showed people fleeing through the mall’s parking lot and corridors.
A video that could not immediately be verified by The Washington Post showed what appeared to be the gunman after he was fatally shot, wearing tactical gear with several magazines of ammunition on his chest. A firearm appeared beside him.
The mass killing at the outlet mall — which was crowded with shoppers on a Saturday afternoon — was the latest high-profile display of the gun violence that has become routine across the United States. In less than five months, the United States has already recorded 199 “mass shootings” this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines such events as a shooting in which four or more people are shot or killed, not including the perpetrator.
This is the 127th day of 2023
We're averaging 1½ mass shootings,
and 116 gun deaths per day.
A gunman was arrested Tuesday after he killed five of his neighbors in their yard after they asked him to stop shooting his AR-15-style firearm near their Texas home. In March, a 28-year-old attacker shot and killed six people at a Christian school in Nashville. In January, a gunman killed 11 at a dance hall in Monterey Park, Calif.
Last year, the killing of 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., put the state at the center of the ongoing debate about gun control. In 2021, it recorded 4,613 firearms-related deaths in Texas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state’s annual death toll from guns has increased steadily since 2014.
Led by Gov. Greg Abbott (R), Texas has moved in recent years to loosen restrictions on firearms. In 2021, it began allowing permitless carry so residents can carry handguns in public without a license. The state “does not specifically put restrictions on who can carry a long gun such as a rifle or shotgun,” according to a Texas government website.
Abbott said in a statement Saturday that the Allen shooting was an “unspeakable tragedy,” while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said he and his wife were “praying for the families of the victims of the horrific mall shooting.”
Self, the local congressman, rebuked criticism of officials offering “thoughts and prayers” after shootings while opposing gun control legislation, saying on CNN that “people want to make this political, but prayers are important.”
Excuse me, Congressman, but 🖕🏼
Still, gun control advocates called for a substantive response. Shannon Watts, founder of the advocacy group Moms Demand Action, lamented how such killings have become commonplace in the United States. She noted that she’d gone to school in the county where the latest incident took place.
“If you haven’t been impacted yet by gun violence, God bless you. But sadly, it’s coming — to your state, community, school,” she said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) urged Congress to pass gun control legislation, writing on Twitter: “This is freedom?? To be shot at a mall? Shot at school? Shot at church? Shot at the movies? We have become a nation that is more focused on the right to kill than the right to live. This is not what the American people want.”
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