Two victims who were killed at a Texas shopping centre after a suspected neo-Nazi sympathiser opened fire, killing at least eight people on Saturday, have been named.
Security guard Christian LaCour, 20, and Aishwarya Thatikonda, a 27-year-old engineer from India, were among the victims killed at Allen Premium Outlets shopping centre, in a suburb north of Dallas, according to their families and a non-profit group supporting them.
The gunman, named by police as 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia, was armed with an AR-15 style assault weapon and was shot dead by an officer at the sceneon Saturday afternoon.
Mr LaCour’s grandmother named the security guard as a victim of the shooting and described her grandson as “such a beautiful soul”, according to a post on Facebook.
Sandra Montgomery wrote: “He was such a beautiful soul, 20 years old with goals for his future I was so proud of him and so glad I got to see him two weeks ago.”
“Please pray for my family”, she added: “I know they are very close and this is almost unbearable”.
Ms Thatikonda’s death was confirmed by the Telugu Association of North America, a non-profit group that serves the Telugu community, and is assisting her family.
The representative said Ms Thatikonda’s family will have her remains sent to India, Sky News’s US partner, NBC News reported.
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Moment Texas gunman opens fire
US President Joe Biden confirmed that the victims included children. Authorities have not yet formally released the identities of the victims.
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Garcia is said to have been wearing a tactical vest and was equipped with a handgun during the shooting, as officials continue to investigate the motive.
Dashcam footage from the scene showed the gunman stepping out of a vehicle and firing outside the shopping centre, sending hundreds of shoppers fleeing in panic.
According to officers, an initial review of what are believed to be his 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.
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Witnesses describe horrific shooting in Texas
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.
Officials said they were investigating whether the shooting was racially or ethnically motivated, but stressed that the investigation was ongoing and at an early stage.
On Sunday, Mr Biden renewed calls for Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, as well as to enact universal background checks and end immunity for gun manufacturers.
He noted that Garcia had been wielding an AR-15 rifle and wearing tactical gear.
The killings were the latest in at least 199 mass shootings that have occurred in the United States so far in 2023, according to the non-profit group Gun Violence Archive.
An actor who appeared in animated series King Of The Hill and hit show Parks And Recreation has been shot dead near his home.
Jonathan Joss, 59, was found injured by police in San Antonio, Texas, on Sunday evening.
Officers tried to save him but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The actor’s husband claimed the gunman shouted “violent homophobic slurs” before opening fire, and that Joss had pushed him out the way to save his life.
“He was murdered by someone who could not stand the sight of two men loving each other,” alleged Tristan Kern de Gonzales on Facebook.
He said the couple had previously faced harassment from neighbours, much of it “openly homophobic”.
Joss’s husband said they had been checking for mail at his old home – which earlier this year burned down in a fire that killed their three dogs – when they noticed the skull of one of the animals in front of the property.
He said they began “yelling and crying” and claimed they were approached by a man who threatened them with a gun.
“We were standing side by side,” said Mr Kern de Gonzales. “When the man fired Jonathan pushed me out of the way. He saved my life.”
However, San Antonio police said it had found no evidence that the shooting was a hate crime.
“Should any new evidence come to light, we will charge the suspect accordingly,” said a statement.
A 56-year-old man, Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez, has already been charged with murder.
Joss is best known for voicing Native American character John Redcorn in cult show King Of The Hill, which ran for 13 series and more than 250 episodes from 1997 to 2009.
He also had a recurring role in NBC’s Parks And Recreation as tribal elder and casino owner Chief Ken Hotate.
A King Of The Hill reboot is due to start in August and Joss had been in Austin, Texas, for events promoting the comeback the day before he was killed.
He posted a video on Instagram saying he was signing autographs at a comic book store, adding that he had already worked on four episodes of the revival.
“The fans get to revisit King Of the Hill again, which I think is an amazing thing because it’s a great show,” he said in the video.
The suspect is being held in a detention centre in San Antonio, but the lawyer representing him could not be traced as they were not listed in court records.
Elon Musk has criticised US President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, calling it “outrageous” and a “disgusting abomination”.
The bill, which includes multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks, was passed by the House Republicans in May, and has been described by the president as a “big, beautiful bill”.
The tech billionaire hit out at the tax cuts on his platform X, writing: “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore.
“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Image: Elon Musk left his ‘special government employee’ role last week. Pic: AP.
In American politics, “pork” is a political metaphor used when government spending is allocated to local projects, usually to benefit politicians’ constituencies.
The White House brushed Musk’s comments aside, claiming they did not surprise the president.
In a press conference on Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill”.
She added: “This is one, big, beautiful bill.
“And he’s sticking to it.”
The White House on Tuesday asked Congress to cut back $9.4bn in already approved spending, taking money away from DOGE.
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What did Musk achieve at DOGE?
The billionaire tweeted: “It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!!) and burden American citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
He also suggested voting out politicians who advanced the president’s tax bill.
“In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” Musk wrote in another X post.
Questions have also been raised about whether the department has actually saved taxpayers as much money as suggested.
Musk initially had ambitions to slash government spending by $2trn (£1.5trn) – but this was dramatically reduced to $1trn (£750bn) and then to just $150bn (£111bn).
Image: Elon Musk brought his son X Æ A-12 to the Oval Office during a press conference earlier this year. Pic: Reuters.
He recently told The Washington Post: “The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realised. I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC to say the least.”
By law, status as a “special government employee” means he could only serve for a maximum of 130 days, which would have ended around 30 May.
The family of the man accused of throwing petrol bombs at a pro-Israel group in Colorado have been taken into custody.
Immigration officers detained Mohamed Soliman’s relatives, believed to be his wife and five children.
Soliman, an Egyptian national, moved to the US three years ago and lived in Colorado Springs but was there illegally after his visa and work authorisation expired. He reportedly has two teenage children and three younger children.
“We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it,” said homeland security secretary Kristi Noem on X.
The attacker allegedly yelled “Free Palestine” and had a total of 18 petrol bombs – but police said he “got scared” and only tossed a couple.
Soliman also had a makeshift flamethrower in the form of gas in a backpack sprayer, according to a FBI statement, but told investigators he did not use it.
Twelve people were injured, authorities said. The victims were aged between 52 and 88 and three of them were still being treated in hospital on Tuesday.
Image: Mohamed Soliman appeared with a bandaged ear in a mugshot. Pic: Boulder Police Dept.
Soliman was allegedly dressed as a gardener to get as close as he could to the small group. Authorities said he told them he had no regrets.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Boulder attack was “aimed against peaceful people who wished to express their solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas, simply because they were Jews”.