The gunman who killed eight and injured seven others before being shot dead by the police at a Texas outlet mall has been identified as Mauricio Garcia, 33, according to multiple reports. Garcia is from Dallas, Texas, and has been identified as a lone operator. The age, residence, and car of the suspect all match the information provided by law enforcement.
Garcia was last seen in a motel About 30 miles south of the shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets in Dallas. Garcia arrived at the parking lot of Allen Premium Outlets, about 25 miles north of Dallas, in tactical gear and opened fire with an AR-15 rifle police said.
Neo-Nazi Beliefs
Garcia was killed on Saturday by a police officer who happened to be at Allen Premium Outlets, about 25 miles north of Dallas, police said. The gunman, who lived in Dallas, was armed with an "AR-15 style assault weapon," President Joe Biden said.
Police searched a Dallas home connected to Garcia's parents on Saturday night in the wake of the carnage outside the Allen Premium Outlets, and they also looked into a motel where the alleged shooter had booked an extended stay, according to law enforcement sources who spoke to local station WFAA-TV.
Garcia did not have a serious criminal past and was employed as a security guard. However, it is unclear where he worked as a security guard.
Police are also looking into any potential connections between Garcia and radical ideologies after the suspect was found with a patch on his chest that appeared to have white supremacist or neo-Nazi leanings, according to the Washington Post.
According to two senior law enforcement sources, a preliminary investigation of what is thought to be the shooter's social media accounts reveals hundreds of posts that contain racially or ethnically driven violent extremist speech, including neo-Nazi material and material endorsing white supremacy.
The Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI branch in Dallas, which is assisting in the investigation, both acknowledged that two locations connected to the suspect were being searched, but they provided no other details.
The Texas Online Private Security database shows that Garcia was authorized to work as a commissioned security guard in the state from April 2016 to April 2020 and had three prior jobs before his license expired.
According to records, he received proficiency training in firearms in 2015 and completed additional firearms training in 2018. DPS, which manages the database, immediately disqualifies applicants who have committed specific violent offenses.
A Lot Still Unclear
This comes as the DailyMail.com reported that Garcia left strange and jumbled voicemail messages for calls to his cell phone when he was fixated on money.
Instead of the customary "leave your name and number" Garcia's customized message asks his parents for money and stresses to his provider that his cell phone bill is already paid.
The voice message also makes fun of the federal government for not giving him enough financial along with a jab at the deceased Dallas resident's acquaintances who may have owed him money.
Besides the AR-15 rifle, he used to carry out the massacre, more weapons and ammunition were found in Garcia's car, a source told NBC News. The gunman was wearing a patch on his chest with a right-wing acronym at the time of the massacre.
Garcia's neighbors told WFAA that although he regularly parked his gray Charger in front of his parents' home, neither they nor Garcia had been seen in recent weeks.
A gray vehicle was found at the scene of the massacre on Saturday. A man exited the car while wearing black military gear and brandishing an AR-15-style rifle before opening fire on customers in Allen, which is located about 25 minutes north of Dallas.
An officer on patrol in the vicinity who hurriedly screamed for assistance as he ran towards the shooting shot Garcia dead outside the H&M store.
Garcia's neighbors said that they had never seen him carrying a firearm at his parent's home and that they had no memories of him being involved in any incidents.
Six of those killed in the incident outside the mall were dead on the scene. According to Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd, nine more victims were taken to the hospital, where two eventually died from their injuries.
According to officials, the age of the injured varied from 5 to 61. Three patients were believed to be in fair condition, while three others were still described as being in serious condition.
