Texas gunman who killed eight at shopping mall had ‘neo-Nazi ideation’, police say
A Texas gunman who killed eight people at a Dallas-area shopping mall had “neo-Nazi ideation”, police have said.
But the gunman, identified as 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia, appeared to have singled out his victims randomly and without regard for race, age or sex when he opened fire with an AR-15 style rifle on Saturday.
He was also wearing a tactical vest and was equipped with a handgun during the shooting, police said.
The mass shooting at the crowded Allen Premium Outlets mall in Allen, Texas, ended after several minutes when police shot dead the suspect.
Garcia, who lived in Dallas, was initially believed to have interacted with neo-Nazi and white supremacist content online, as well as posting such content, according to two senior police sources who spoke to Sky News’s US partner, NBC News.
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Worker helps people flee Texas shooting
On Tuesday, authorities determined from a review of the gunman’s social media profile, clothing patches and tattoos that he “had neo-Nazi ideation”.
In a news conference, Hank Sibley, a regional director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said it was too soon in the investigation to say whether the shooting could be considered an act of domestic terrorism.
Mr Sibley also revealed that Garcia had once served in the US military, and that he suffered from an unspecified mental illness.
The gunman is also said to have worked in the private secretary business some time ago.
The eight people killed in the attack included three children – two young sisters as well as a three-year-old boy from a different family whose parents were also among the dead.
Ten other people, ages five to 51, were wounded.
People praying at a makeshift memorial a the scene of the shooting. Pic: AP
Investigators recovered eight firearms, including the murder weapon, from Garcia’s possession and his vehicle, with Mr Sibley saying that all of the weapons had been legally purchased.
“The big question we’re dealing with now is: what’s his motive? Why did he do this? We don’t know,” he said.
Officers said on Sunday that an initial review of Garcia’s supposed social media accounts revealed hundreds of posts about ethnicity and race, including what is being described as violent extremist rhetoric.
Authorities also found a clothing patch with a far-right acronym on his chest.
The patch included the letters RWDS, believed to stand for Right Wing Death Squad, according to CBS, who cited two senior police sources.
Right Wing Death Squad are said to be a neo-Nazi group.
The front entrance of a home connected to suspected mall gunman, Mauricio Garcia, has been searched by police
Police and the Texas Rangers, working with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, were investigating whether the shooting was racially or ethnically motivated, officials said.
Detectives are also said to have interviewed Garcia’s relatives and friends about his ideological beliefs.
According to reports, Garcia lived with his parents in an area of northeast Dallas.
He is also reported to have worked as a security guard.
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A neighbour, who asked to be identified only as Julie, told NBC she would see Garcia going to and coming home from work every day like clockwork.
“He tried to acknowledge us but seemed a little off,” Julie said. “He wasn’t somebody you could carry a conversation with.”
Aishwarya Thatikonda, Christian LaCour, Cindy and Kyu Song Cho were among the victms. Pic: GoFundMe
She said she was stunned when she learned the suspect’s identity.
“You could have knocked me over with a feather when I found out,” she said.
Another neighbour, Gilda Bailey, said three police squad cars were parked outside his house when she got home.
She said officers were not letting the suspect’s relatives inside the residence and that she later saw the FBI removing items from Garcia’s home.
Saturday’s shooting is the second deadliest mass shooting in the US this year and the second in Texas in a little over a week.
Following the shooting, President Joe Biden renewed calls for a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, as well as to enact universal background checks and end immunity for gun manufacturers.
About 10,000 pages of records related to the assassination of Robert F Kennedy (RFK) nearly 60 years ago have been released publicly for the first time.
The senator, who was the brother of US president John F Kennedy (JFK), was shot dead at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on 6 June 1968, moments after giving his victory speech for winning California’s Democratic presidential primary.
His assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, was convicted of first-degree murder and is serving life in prison.
RFK’s assassination, much like his brother’s in 1963, has been the subject of much speculation.
His son, Robert F Kennedy Jr, previously said he believed his father was killed by multiple gunmen, an assertion that contradicts official accounts.
After the documents were released on Friday, director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said they would “shine a long-overdue light on the truth”.
Many files related to the senator’s assassination had already been released, but the ones posted to the US National Archives and Records Administration on Friday had not been digitised and sat for decades in storage facilities maintained by the federal government.
The move is a continuation of the release of historic withheld files ordered by US President Donald Trump, in an apparent bid to prove the transparency of his administration.
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Trump announcing release of JFK files in March
It started when he signed an executive order back in January for the release of thousands of files about JFK’s assassination, many of which were made public in March.
The files gave readers more details about the US’s covert operations during the Cold War-era, but did not lend legitimacy to any of the many conspiracy theories surrounding the former president’s death.
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RFK Jr, who is also Mr Trump’s health secretary, commended the president and Ms Gabbard for their “courage” and “dogged efforts” to release the files.
“Lifting the veil on the RFK papers is a necessary step toward restoring trust in American government,” he said in a statement.
In a statement, Ms Gabbard said: “Nearly 60 years after the tragic assassination of senator Robert F Kennedy, the American people will, for the first time, have the opportunity to review the federal government’s investigation thanks to the leadership of president Trump.”
Lawyers for RFK’s killer have been pushing for his release for decades, saying he is unlikely to reoffend or pose a danger to society.
A parole board deemed Sirhan suitable for release in 2022, but California governor Gavin Newsom rejected the decision in 2022, keeping him in state prison.
A different panel denied him release in 2023, saying he still lacked insight into what caused him to shoot RFK.
Donald Trump has said his second state visit to the UK could take place in September.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer handed over an invitation from the King when he visited Washington in February.
Trump teases return to UK – latest updates
Buckingham Palace previously only said the visit would happen “when diaries allow”, but Mr Trump told reporters on Thursday: “I think they are setting a date for September.”
“I don’t know how it can be bigger than the last one,” he said.
“The last one was incredible, but they say the next one will be even more important.”
Sir Keir Starmer handed Trump the invite earlier this year. Pic: PA
Mr Trump will become the only elected political leader in modern times to be invited to two state visits by a British monarch.
The president called the UK a “great country” in his comments at the White House on Thursday and said it was “an honour to be a friend of King Charles and the family, William”.
His first state visit was in 2019, when he was hosted by the late Queen.
Second-term US presidents who have already made a state visit usually get tea or lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle, as was the case for George W Bush and Barack Obama.
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The president was hosted by the Queen in June 2019. Pic: Reuters
But Mr Trump is set to get all the pomp and ceremony laid on again in his honour – with another state banquet likely at Buckingham Palace.
The Royal Family‘s soft power diplomacy is viewed as a way of currying favour with the president, who’s known for his love of the monarchy and links to the UK through his mother, who was born on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.
It comes as the government seeks an economic deal with the US, in the hope of potentially lessening the impact of the president’s tariffs.
Four people are in hospital as police deal with an active shooter on a university campus in Florida.
Videos showed people running through traffic, fleeing the scene, around the time of the shooting at the student union at Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee.
Local police were “on the scene or on the way”, according to an alert sent out by the school and students have been told to “shelter in place”.
The FBI is also said to be responding to the incident.
Florida State University students wait for news amid an active shooter incident at the school.
Pic: AP/Kate Payne
In a statement, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare said it was “actively receiving and caring for patients” from the incident.
“At this time, details are still unfolding, and we do not yet have specific information to share. However, we want to assure the community that our teams are fully mobilised and prepared to provide the highest level of care and support to all those affected,” it added.
President Donald Trump said he was fully briefed on the incident and described it as “a shame”.
He added: “It’s a horrible thing. Horrible that things like this take place.”
Florida governor Ron DeSantis, in a statement posted on X, said: “Our prayers are with our FSU family and state law enforcement is actively responding.”
Ambulances, fire trucks and police vehicles raced to the campus around midday local time (5pm UK time) on Thursday.
As students streamed away from the area of the student union in their hundreds, some were visibly emotional and others were glued to their phones.
Dozens later gathered near the university’s music school, waiting for news.
Florida State University student Daniella Streety told NBC News of the chaos that unfolded at the scene.
She remained on lockdown in a campus building and said: “I did see them carry out one student in what looked like on a stretcher and kept them in the road until an ambulance was able to pick them up.”
Joshua Sirmans, 20, was in the university’s main library when he said alarms began going off warning of an active shooter.
Police escorted him and other students out of the library with their hands over their heads, he said.
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