Allen mass shooting: Three of Korean American family, including three-year-old, among 8 victims killed
ALLEN, TEXAS: Three members of a Korean American family were among the eight people fatally shot at the Allen Premium Outlets mall in Allen, Texas, on May 6. A couple and their three-year-old child were killed when 33-year-old suspect, Mauricio Garcia, went on a shooting spree.
According to Yonhap News Agency, another five-year-old child of the couple, who were in their 30s and were identified by their surnames Cho and Kang, was severely injured and is currently receiving medical treatment.
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Who are the other victims?
The two other victims who have been identified are Aishwarya Thatikonda, a 27-year-old engineer, and Christian LaCour, a 20-year-old security guard who worked at the mall, which is operated by Simon Property Group and occupies 69 acres while housing more than 120 retailers. There is no information about the other three victims who were killed. On the other hand, multiple outlets reported that the shooter, who lived in Dallas, was armed with an "AR-15 style assault weapon." He was also wearing a tactical vest and had a handgun. However, he was killed by a police officer after the confrontation. The officer, who was responding to a different incident at the mall heard the gunshots, rushed to the scene and killed the attacker, as MEAWW reported earlier. The motive behind the killings still remain unclear.
'I saw blood pouring out of her stomach'
Elaine Penicaro, who was shopping with her daughter, said, "We were outside the Converse store and we just heard all this popping. We kind of all just stopped, and then a second later, just 'Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,' and there were sparks flying like it was right in front of us," per Fox4.
Abu Akther, who was at the mall with his wife and one-year-old child when he heard the firing outside H&M, reportedly said, "Got boxes to shut the door because we didn’t know where the shooter was, mayhem and panic." Akther, who managed to get a woman inside the store after she was shot, said, "That’s when she said, ‘I don’t know why I am shot. What is going on?’ And I saw blood pouring out of her stomach."
The attack was the second-deadliest mass shooting of 2023, according to data from the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive, states NPR. Commenting on the attack, LULAC national president Domingo Garcia said in a statement, "We must stop this epidemic of killings by declaring that Texas is taking immediate steps to prevent more mass shootings that are becoming all too frequent," reports NBC News.