Officials are looking into whether the gunman who killed eight people at a mall in Allen, Tex., near Dallas, expressed an interest in white supremacist ideology. Federal agents are reviewing social media accounts they believe Mauricio Garcia, 33, used and posts that expressed interest in white supremacist and neo-Nazi views. Garcia had a patch on his chest when he was killed by police that read “RWDS,” an acronym for the phrase “Right Wing Death Squad,” which is popular among right-wing extremists and white supremacy groups, the Associated Press reports. Garcia is suspected of killing eight and injuring seven before being fatally shot by a police officer who happened to be nearby. Dashcam video showed a gunman step out of a vehicle outside the mall Saturday and immediately starting to shoot at people on the sidewalk. More than three dozen shots could be heard. Maxwell Gum, 16, a shift leader at Wetzel’s Pretzels, was on his lunch break when a family with limited English ran into the back of his store, telling him, “Gun! Shoot!” as gunfire could be heard. He brought the family into a long delivery corridor that runs behind the mall’s stores, where they found "probably like 300 people pouring in from all the different doors People are freaking out, we’re hearing screaming.”
Seven people including the shooter died at the scene. Nine victims were taken to area hospitals, but two of them died. An Allen Police officer was in the area on an unrelated call when he heard shots at 3:36 p.m. “The officer engaged the suspect and neutralized the threat. He then called for emergency personnel,” the police department said on Facebook. Mass killings are happening about once a week in the U.S., say AP/USA Today data. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has signed laws easing firearms restrictions after mass shootings, called Saturday's incident an “unspeakable tragedy.” Stan and Mary Ann Greene were browsing in the Columbia sportswear store when the shooting started. “We had just gotten in, just a couple minutes earlier, and we just heard a lot of loud popping,” Mary Ann Greene said. Employees immediately rolled down the security gate and brought everyone to the rear of the store until police arrived and escorted them out.