Motive in Allen mall mass shooting is ‘big question we don’t know,’ Texas DPS says

Investigators are not ready to state a motive for Saturday’s mass shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets but have verified that the gunman had white supremacist beliefs, authorities said at a news conference Tuesday.

The shooter killed eight victims and wounded seven. In the first briefing on the investigation since Saturday, law enforcement leaders in North Texas commended first responders and encouraged anybody at the mall when the shooting happened to make use of available victim services.

Although investigators are still mining the gunman’s computer, social media and other data for information about his motivations, police confirmed 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia had “neo-Nazi ideation” and acknowledged that a Russian social media profile with racist, misogynistic, anti-LGBTQ and antisemitic posts is believed to be the shooter’s. Authorities can’t yet say, though, if the attack was an act of domestic terrorism motivated by racist or Nazi obsession, Texas Department of Public Safety North Texas Regional Director Hank Sibley said at the news conference.

Investigators believe Garcia chose the mall as his target and then fired at shoppers at random, Sibley said. Although most of the dead have been identified as people of color, including Hispanic and Asian Americans, Sibley said it’s not known whether Garcia was targeting people of a specific race. Three of the dead were children, and Garcia seemed to fire at people regardless of characteristics like age, Sibley said.

Sibley said investigators will continue working to determine the motive and that FBI resources are being used for digital forensics, examining Garcia’s phone, computer and digital footprint. The motive is the “Big question .. we don’t know,” he said.

Garcia had three weapons on his person and five in his car at the time of the shooting. He acquired all of his guns legally, Sibley said.

Garcia was discharged from the U.S. Army in 2008 for mental health issues, before he finished basic training. “Early on they realized he was not a fit for the Army,” Sibley said. Garcia did not have a criminal record, authorities said.

When asked what could be done to prevent another shooting like this, Sibley said that reporting standards for the military have changed and it would be more difficult for someone like Garcia to obtain firearms legally if they were discharged from the Army for mental health concerns today. But he said that in that case, Garcia could have acquired firearms illegally, and he’s not sure anything could have stopped him.

Garcia was licensed to work as a security guard in Texas from about 2016 to 2020 and worked for several companies, but was not employed as security a guard at the time of the shooting. Sibley said he doesn’t have any information to indicate Garcia ever worked security at the Allen mall but he couldn’t say definitely that he didn’t.

Authorities still believe Garcia worked alone but aren’t ruling out possible conspirators.

The officer who killed Garcia stopped the shooting about four minutes after it started. In those few minutes, Garcia fired dozens of times, shooting 15 victims with an AR-15 rifle, according to police and witnesses.

“We are so blessed that an Allen police officer who took appropriate action, did what he did when he did it,” Sibley said. “He undoubtedly saved countless lives. If he hadn’t been there, we would have had a much more severe situation.”

The officer’s name has not been released and he has requested privacy, according to the Allen police chief.

Investigators are still working to finish processing the scene of the mass shooting, but 1,100 vehicles left at the mall have been retrieved by owners and all personal property left outside a store can be picked up at the Allen Senior Recreation Center, where victims can also access services available to them.

The mall will remain closed indefinitely, according to owner Simon Property Group.