Texas mall shooting – latest: Frenzied police audio reveals terror during outlet massacre

Mauricio Garcia, the gunman who killed eight people and injured seven more at a shooting in Allen, Texas, spent some time in the US military but never completed basic training- making him ineligible to be considered a veteran.

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig Gen Pat Ryder told Military Times that Garica is “not a veteran.”

“According to federal regulations, this individual, in terms of the time of service, would not qualify as a veteran,” Mr Ryder said.

Garcia enlisted in the US Army in 2008 but was terminated after three months due to his mental or physical health, an Army Official told The Independent.

Garcia did not complete basic training, therefore was never an active member.

A veteran is classified as “a person who served in the active military, naval, air, or space service, and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable,” according to the US Department of Veteran Affairs.

A gunman clad in black body armour and armed with an AR-15-style assault rifle opened fire at a Texas mall on Saturday, killing eight people and injuring seven others.

The suspect was identified by the Texas Department of Public Safety as 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia, a security guard and former US Army trainee.

The Independent reports:

Authorities said that the mass shooting that took place in Allen, Texas on Saturday (6 May) only lasted 3-4 minutes.

Eight people died and seven others were injured in the short amount of time the gunman was on the loose.

Hank Sibley, the regional director of the Texas Department of Safety said on Tuesday in a press conference that they estimated the shooting only lasted a few minutes before a police officer shot Garica.

A website called dwamstx.com has a live counter that shows how many days it has been since Texas had a mass shooting and how many times the counter has been reset.

As of Wednesday morning, there had been three days since the last mass shooting in Allen on Saturday.

Since last week, the counter has been reset once and since last year, it has been reset 34 times.

It has counted 281 casualties in Texas due to mass shootings.

After killing eight people and injuring seven others in a mass shooting at Allen Premium Outlets, gunman Mauricio Garcia was shot dead by a police officer at the scene.

Authorities identified Garcia was wearing a patch on his body armour that had the acronym “RWDS” which stands for “Right Wing Death Squad”.

The acronym is popular among far-right groups like The Proud Boys. It was seen among participants at the 2017 “United the Right” rally in Charlottesville.

“It has really become something over the past couple years that has cut across and far beyond any individual group,” said Jon Lewis, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University told Associated Press

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray donated $15,000 to William Cho, the six-year-old boy who is the only survivor in his immediate family of the Allen outlets mass shooting.

Mr Murray tweeted on Saturday (6 May), the day of the shooting, “This is sickening. Prayers to the mass shooting victims in Allen, Texas. If there is anyway I can help those affected by this tragedy please let me know. When is this s*** gonna stop?”

On the GoFundMe page for the Cho family, Mr Murray’s name was listed as one of the top donors.

The eighth victim identified in the Allen Premium Outlets mass shooting, Elio Cumana-Rivas was a father and son who was working as a delivery driver, according to NBC DFW.

Mr Cumana-Rivas’ father, Santos Cumana, told the news outlet that his son came to the United States to save for a better future for his 11-year-old daughter who is back in Venezuela.

“There are conversations that say Venezuela is not safe,” Mr Cumana said. “Then you come to the United States and you’re killed in a mall by a crazy person with a gun.”

Mr Cumana said his son sent him a video showing him working as a delivery driver the day before the shooting.

Christian LaCour, 20, a security guard working at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas, was remembered as a hero on Tuesday after it was revealed he helped escort others to safety before he was shot and killed during a mass shooting on Saturday.

Allen Police Department Chief Brian Harvey said LaCour helped escort one individual to safety and remained on site trying to help others when Mauricio Garcia, 33, shot and killed him.

Graig Graziosi reports:

A gun owner who rushed to the scene of the shooting in Allen, Texas, to help rescue victims has said it is time for the US to change its policies regarding semi-automatic weapons.

Steven Spainhouer drove to the Allen Premium Outlets on Saturday evening after his son, who was working at an H&M store at the mall, texted him saying that there was an active shooting situation. Upon arriving at the scene of the carnage, Mr Spainhoeur told CBS that he found children covered in blood from head to toe, including a little girl whose face had been blown out by bullets from the AR-15-style rifle the gunman used to carry out the attack.

Eight people were killed before a police officer, who was at the scene responding to an unrelated call, managed to take down shooter Mauricio Garcia, 33.

In response to calls for “thoughts and prayers” from Texas Governor Greg Abbott and other politicians, Mr Spainhouer told CNN those wishes fall short of addressing the concerning epidemic of gun violence in the US.

Mr Spainhouer, a former police officer and self-proclaimed gun lover, noted that regulations in the purchase of semi-automatic rifles, such as the one used in the latest gun massacre in America, have never been of more importance.

“We used to have a ban on assault weapons nationally,” Mr Spainhouer told the network, likely referencing the Federal Assault Weapons Ban that expired in 2004. “We can do that at the state level. We can put red flags in place. we can limit high-capacity rounds. We can stop putting weapons like the AR-15 in the hands of people that don’t need them.”