A man shot and killed a Texas mall, killing eight people and injuring several others, before being killed by a police officer at the mall on Saturday.
Video footage circulating on the internet shows the gunman in the mall’s parking garage shooting at people walking nearby.
According to police, an officer who was in the room regarding an unrelated call quickly responded to the shooting and “neutralized” the shooter, at a time when there were panic scenes at the Allen mall.
The shooter’s identity has not been released. His body was one of seven dead at the mall when police arrived.
Two other people died in hospital, while “three are in critical condition and four are stable,” Allen fire chief Jonathan Boyd said.
The shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets, 34 miles north of Dallas, began around 3:30 p.m. (local time), when the mall was full, police said.
The officer at the mall “heard gunshots, went to the scene, confronted the suspect and neutralized him,” said Chief Superintendent Brian Harvey of the Allen Police Department.
Some of the victims were as young as five years old, a hospital official told NBC News.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott called the mass shooting an “unspeakable tragedy”.
President Joe Biden “has been briefed on the shooting,” a White House official said.
Local authorities praised the actions of the police officer who attacked and killed the gunman. “We owe a debt of gratitude to the first responders who plunged into the gunfire and acted quickly to neutralize the threat,” said Keith Self, a Republican congressman whose district includes the city of Allen.
Initially, authorities thought a second gunman was on the loose. As police searched the mall’s stores, frantic shoppers and store employees rushed to the parking garages.
Harvey later said police believe the unknown gunman “acted alone”.
Janet St. James, a spokesperson for Medical City Healthcare, which operates several trauma facilities in North Texas, said it has received eight patients from the shooting, ranging in age from five to 61, NBC News reported.
“Allen is a proud and safe city, which makes today’s senseless act of violence all the more shocking,” Mayor Ken Fulk said in a statement.
“I want to commend our police and firefighters for their quick response. Their thorough training to not hesitate to move towards the threat probably saved more lives today,” he added.
“There Are No Safe Places”
Jaynal Pervez, who arrived at the mall while her daughter was inside, told CNN, “There are no safe places. I don’t know what to do.”
Pervez later told CBS that the mall parking lot scenes had been chaotic.
With more guns than people, the United States has the highest gun death rate of any developed country: 49,000 in 2021, up from 45,000 the previous year.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been more than 195 mass shootings – defined as four or more injured or killed – in the United States so far this year.
Source: DN
