OK.ru (Mauricio Garcia)/Twitter Mauricio Garcia
Mauricio Garcia was the 33-year-old shooter who killed eight people May 6 at Allen Premium Outlets Mall in Allen, Texas, leaving behind a trail of racist and anti-Semitic writings. The Texas Department of Public Safety identified Garcia on May 7 after NBC News and CNN first identified him.
Garcia, dressed in tactical gear, opened fire around 3:30 p.m. on May 6, 2023, Allen Police Chief Brian E. Harvey said in a news conference. Another seven people were injured, Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said in the same news conference. A police officer shot and killed Garcia at the scene, Harvey said.
In social media posts reviewed by Heavy on the platform OK.RU, Garcia posted references to Adolf Hitler, called himself an “incel,” and said he had moved toward right-wing ideology. “I hate women. Their I’ve said it,” he wrote in one spelling-error riddled post. He also wrote about mass shootings and, on the day before the mall massacre, he posted, “Moons full loser’s. See you in the morning.” OK.RU, or Odnoklassniki, is a popular Russian social media platform. Garcia’s page is filled with angry rants about society and various groups of people.
He shared a photo of tactical gear in April.
OK.RU (Mauricio Garcia)A photo on Mauricio Garcia’s social media page from April 2023.
He also shared a search of the busiest times at the Allen Premium Outlets Mall.
OK.RU (Mauricio Garcia)Mauricio Garcia post
In one post, he wrote, “If illegal aliens, Antifa, and BlackLivesMatter are allowed to break the law with impunity, why should other Americans respect the law? Why not break the law if you can get away with it as others are allowed to do.” He also shared posts from the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi, white supremacist website. Some posts were anti-Semitic; he wrote, “America is controlled by a cabal of scheming Jews, and the time has come to rise up against them.” He also wrote, “We are going to make America white again.” He was fascinated with Jeffrey Dahmer and mentioned Parkland, Florida, school shooter Nikolas Cruz. In January 2023, he wrote,
By now, the pattern of public response is tragically familiar. Cable news covers the atrocities around the clock. Victims’ relatives and political leaders express horror, outrage, and resolve. Editorials call for new laws to limit access to the tools of mass murder. Gun rights advocates respond that the answer lies in getting more guns into the right hands, not in gun bans that will prove ineffectual in a nation that already boasts approximately 300 million guns, or eighty-eight for every hundred people….A few isolated states may strengthen their gun laws, but at least an equal number will do the opposite.
According to The New York Times, which first reported on the social media platform’s existence, Garcia suggested several times that he was “of Hispanic origin — at one point indicating they are originally from Mexico,” but expressed white supremacy ideology. He also photographed and posted many pages of journal entries and drawings on the social media account. Garcia also shared photos of bullets, knives, guns, and shooting range targets. He wrote “my kind of people” with a picture of a man in a Nazi uniform.
The first victim named was security guard Christian LaCour, whose grandmother confirmed he was among the dead in an emotional Facebook post.
Facebook (Kellie Smith)/GettyChristian LaCour (left) was the first named of the Allen, Texas, mall shooting victims.
In addition, three members of the same family – parents Kyu, Cindy and James Cho, 3 – were among the deceased victims, according to a GoFundMe page. Their 6-year-old son William was the only member of the family to survive.
GoFundMeThe Cho family.
On May 8, 2023, Allen police released the full list of deceased victims:
Female, age 11, Sachse, TX
Female, age 8, Sachse, TX
Kyu Song Cho, male, age 37, Dallas, TX
Cindy Cho, female, age 35, Dallas, TX
Male, age 3, Dallas, TX (not named by the police, this victim was James Cho)
Christian LeCour, male, age 23, Nevada, TX
Elio Cumana-Rivas, male, age 32, Dallas, TX
Aishwarya Thatikonda, female, age 26, McKinney, TX
Although police did not name the two female juveniles, they were named by their school district as Daniela Mendoza, a 4th Grader, and Sofia Mendoza, a 2nd Grader. Their mother Ilda Mendoza, is in critical condition, according to Fox4.
Video shows the moment the suspect exited his vehicle in the parking lot and started shooting. A series of disturbing videos went viral on social media, including one showing bodies of victims, including that of a small child, lying in a pile.
Previous social media reports had erroneously claimed the suspect was named Ignacio Garcia based on scanner reports. However, NBC News and CNN confirmed that report is false; the suspect is Mauricio Garcia, per law enforcement sources to the networks. The gunman’s full name was Mauricio Martinez Garcia, according to Fox 4 reporter Peyton Yager.
Scanner audio said one victim was shot in the chest and that the suspect had an “AR rifle.”
The unidentified officer who shot Garcia told dispatchers, “I need everybody I got.”
On the scanner, officers confirmed that multiple victims were shot outside of the H&M store. An officer said a person was hiding in a dumpster. You can listen to the initial scanner audio here, courtesy of Broadcastify:
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Mauricio Garcia’s Social Media Profile Picture Was of a Smiley Face Fashioned to Look Like Adolf Hitler & He Wrote, ‘Moons Full,’ Promising to ‘See You in the Morning’ the Day Before the Massacre
The Washington Post, which also confirmed Garcia’s name, reported that the gunman “may have had white supremacist or neo-Nazi beliefs,” attributing that contention to “people familiar with the investigation.”
According to the Post, Garcia, who had “multiple weapons on him and in his nearby car,” was wearing a patch on his chest that “suggested the potential white supremacist leanings.” NBC News reported that the patch contained “a right-wing acronym.”
Here is a photo of it on Garcia’s social media page:
OK.RU (Mauricio Garcia)A photo on Mauricio Garcia’s social media page.
Garcia had an “extensive social media presence” that included “neo-Nazi and white supremacist-related posts and images that authorities believe he shared online,” according to a tweet from CNN reporter Josh Campbell.
The New York Times reported that Garcia had social media pages “rife with hate-filled rants against women and Black people,” including a profile that matched his information on the social media site OK.RU that “includes language praising Hitler, with references to neo-Nazi websites like The Daily Stormer.”
Campbell reported that Garcia “had an insignia on his clothing that read ‘RWDS,’ which police believe stands for Right Wing Death Squad.”
The New York Times reported that “neo-Nazi groups in the United States and members of other far-right organizations like the Proud Boys have claimed the phrase.” According to The Times, the profile believed to belong to the shooter “also includes several pictures showing a black tactical vest with an RWDS patch. The patch has the shape of a shield with a notch in its upper right corner,” reminiscent of Nazi SS patches. There is also a Google Maps screenshot indicating when the mall was expected to be busiest, the Times reported.
The profile was then unearthed by Bellingcat journalist Aric Toler. It is in the name “PsycoVision 5” and contains a profile picture of a smiley face that is made to look like Adolf Hitler. It is still live here, but be forewarned that it is very disturbing.
Garcua’s last post was on May 6, 2023, and reads:
Go tell aunt Rhody that everybody is dead
Resident Evil BiohazardKenotia – You Dug Your Grave, Now Lie In It
I can’t unbreak something that’s broken now
This is over for meThis is just the way it has to be
I’m so sorry
Please believe me
It’s not what I wanted
But it’s just the way this has to be
Please forgive me
When I tell you it’s not what I wanted
Hey, you, keep breathing
Just keep breathing
Hey, you, if it’s meant to be
It will come back to you
I am lost so far from unknown, who will save me from myself
That same day, he wrote, “The Walk Of The Devil. I just found out Wagner Maniçoba de Moura was the voice of death. Now I feel like watching the 1rst 2 season’s of Narcos.”
On May 5, he wrote, “Moons full loser’s. See you in the morning.”
On April 21, he wrote,
Silver or Lead
No matter how well I think I can hide it. Their’s always someone who see’s right through me. The 1rst was this loser. Out of the blue this fucking guy said you look like the type to walk into a crowd and start shooting. Later I got the urge to watch Rampage. The Uwe Boll one not the video game one.
Another time this crew I worked with at BCW said in a joking way “if you ever come in here and snap can you spare me?” I think what gave me away was I wear all black
I was out 2 or 3 day’s. When I came back everyone thought I had killed someone or raped some chick
And when I was at Texas Finishing Company this dude said
Can you warn me when you go postal
Garcia also wrote about mass shootings:
What is missing from the scapegoating arguments is a good look in the mirror by us as a society and a culture. Other developed countries that we consider to be our peers simply do not have the problem with mass shooting incidents that we do. It is my contention that the very roots of our mass shooting epidemic may be found in our core cultural value of fierce individualism, a belief in vengeance, and the ethic that might makes right. These cultural values have been central to what it means to be an American since our nation’s birth. We have always loved to settle disputes (at the individual and group levels) with violence and guns and we gleefully celebrate vigilantism in our popular culture.
I further contend there are powerful, divisive, and negative social forces at work today that fuel the increase in mass public shootings. These factors include but are not limited to: financial and healthcare fears, a declining belief in the American dream, distrust of the government, racism, xenophobia, religious and gender biases, hate crime, domestic terrorism, and near-constant war since 2001. Political and social divisions fueled by seemingly ubiquitous hate speech across media platforms over the last few years have created an environment where violence is seemingly inevitable.
The above factors have led to fear, alienation, powerlessness, rage, and nihilism for millions of people in our country. Tragically, but predictably, an increasing number of Americans are striking out in horrible, public acts of mass violence against innocent strangers that are driven by rage and unfounded retribution. This existential crisis demands that we reassess our core values and priorities as a society, and it deserves our collective commitment to change and grow if we are to stem the tide of this terrible phenomenon.
He also expressed an interest in serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and described himself in another post as an “incel,” writing, “Years of rejection, and the feeling that you don’t even exist in the eyes of foids has made me deeply angry, resentful , and uncaring towards them. Hypothetically if i got a Stacy who was perfect in all other aspects too, i would just not have the capacity to love her. Even if she loved me, i would want to inflict as much pain as i could on her, i would want to rape her as a final act of revenge on behalf of all wh****.”
A tattoo was visible on the suspect’s hand in a video showing his body outside a burger restaurant.
On social media he discussed some of his tattoos, writing, “I got a Panther on the right side of my waist. This is my attempt at culturally appropriating the Panther from the black Panther party. Just like the swastika and the punisher skull.”
CBS 11 news reporter J.D. Miles tweeted that Garcia had “no serious criminal record.” Some mugshots being bandied about social media as Garcia do not even match his age.
Garcia was also on YouTube, also with the Hitler smiley face as the profile picture. His Facebook page was deleted. He linked to a “bulk ammo” online website. He wrote that one post was inspired by “Libs of TikTok” on Twitter, adding that he “had this teacher who was supposed to be a chemistry teacher but she used the class to promote Jewish muh diversity hippie bullshit. I was just starting to go right wing.” He wrote that he was in ROTC.
Some posts read like journal entries. He also wrote about his taxes, job searches and other such things.
Boyd said in a news conference that authorities found “seven deceased individuals on scene.” Nine people were transported to the hospital to area trauma facilities. Two of those people died, three are in critical surgery, and four are stable, the chief said.
Harvey said that the officer was at an unrelated call when he heard gunshots and “neutralized the shooter and neutralized the threat.”
He said police believe the shooter acted alone. Rep. Keith Self, a Republican Congressman, said the shooting could have been worse if the officer hadn’t been on scene so fast.
“We will never know how many lives were saved by the swift actions of our first responders,” Self said during the Saturday news conference.
2. Mauricio Garcia Had an Expired Security Guard License With Firearm Training, But He Was Living in a Dallas-Area Hotel at the Time of the Shooting, Reports Say
Garcia was licensed to work as a security guard in Texas from 2016 to 2020, according to the Texas Online Private Security database.
The database says Garcia received firearms training and levels two and three security training. According to CNN, the first training level “covers security laws in Texas,” and the second is required of all security officers and “includes firearm training and the demonstration of firearm proficiency.”
The state database lists Garcia as working for Verified Response Security and Investigations in 2016, but it says he was “terminated” in 2017 by that company. It also says he worked for Ruiz Protective Service, Inc. in 2015 and Statewide Patrol, Inc. in 2017.
According to WFAA-TV, FBI agents were interviewing the suspect’s family in Dallas and had asked for a translator.
Neighbors described the suspect as being in his 30s and said he “has lived here for as long as anyone can recall,” according to the television station.
The neighbors said they didn’t know of any problems at the home but said that in the past few weeks, they hadn’t seen the suspect’s gray Charger as much. A Google Maps image shows a gray vehicle parked in front of a house on Piper Lane in Dallas that was tied to Garcia via online records.
They told the television station the suspect “always wore some kind of security guard uniform, although no one says they ever saw him with any kind of weapon.”
However, The Washington Post reported that Garcia “was living in a Dallas-area hotel” at the time of the mass shooting. The Dallas Morning News reported that the hotel in question was Budget Suites, at 8150 N. Stemmons Freeway.
On the social media profile, Garcia wrote about the hotel, saying, that he was living “at the Budget Suites because every other place wanted rental history or wanted me to make 3 time’s the rent. Beggars can’t be choosers so here I am.”
Medical City Healthcare told NBC 5 that the wounded victims receiving treatment range in age from 5 years old to 61 years old.
3. Graphic Videos Emerged of the Shooting Scene, Including the Moment Mauricio Garcia Started Firing
Graphic videos emerged of the shooting scene at the mall. One shows the gunman, shot, lying on a sidewalk, dressed all in black with what appears to be body armor. It is too graphic to share, but you can see a blurred out version above. As noted, though, Ignacio Garcia is not the shooter, as that tweet’s caption falsely claims. The gunman is Mauricio Garcia; it’s not clear whether the two were related.
One video that is too graphic to share shows bodies, including of a small child, crumpled in a corner outside the mall building.
Another video shows officers clearing stores.
You can see a roundup of the videos here.
4. Mauricio Garcia, Who Previously Lived in Northeast Dallas With His Parents, Was Described as ‘Unusual’ & Used an Email Account Called ‘DeathDestructionandLove,’ Reports Say
Fox News Digital reported that “an email account called ‘deathdestructionandlove’ was listed in association with Garcia.” Heavy has confirmed that the Yahoo account in that name comes up tied to Garcia in public record databases. The same databases say that Garcia also had previous ties to North Carolina.
Rebecca Lopez, a reporter with WFAA-TV, wrote on Twitter, “FBI agents took evidence from a home in Northeast Dallas where suspect in Allen Premium Outlets shooting recently lived with his parents. Neighbors say he was quiet and always acted unusual. The FBI questioned family for hours.”
“Our deepest sympathies are with the families of the victims,” said Harvey. “This is a tragedy, people will be looking for answers, we’re sorry that those families are experiencing that loss.”
Among the victims were two young sisters. According to journalist Lauren Przybyl, in a Facebook post, “close friends of 10-year-old Daniela Mendoza and 8-year-old Sofia Mendoza say the two girls died in the Allen Premium Outlets shooting.”
She added that their mother Ilda Mendoza “is in the hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg and shoulder.”
Przybul wrote in the Facebook post that a family friend told her the mother “saw her children get shot and tried to shield them. Their father was helping an older woman with a walker and was farther behind them. They were shopping for an upcoming family trip to Cancun. The two children attended Cox Elementary in Wylie ISD.”
Cox Elementary principal Krista Wilson called the girls “rays of sunshine” in a statement to Fox4.
“Daniela and Sofia were the kindest, most thoughtful students with smiles that could light up any room,” said Wilson in a statement given to the television station, which added that the girls were in cheerleading classes.
5. A Man Who Rushed to the Scene Described Discovering a Small Child Lying Under His Mother’s Body as Bystanders Filmed the Carnage
Witness Steven Spainhouer, whose son was at the H&M store but wasn’t injured, told WFAA-TV that he tried to help the victims, but it was too late for some.
He said he turned the head of one victim to help her but discovered “she had no face.”
“She was gone,” he said to WFAA, adding that some people were standing around filming the bodies.
Spainhouer, a former police officer, told the television station that he discovered a bloody but alive 4-year-old child hiding under his mother’s deceased body.
Allen Mayor Ken Fulk said in a statement:
Today is a tragic day for the City of Allen, our citizens, our friends and visitors who were at the Allen Premium Outlets. We are a strong and caring community, and we want all of the victims and their families impacted by this tragedy to know that we will wrap our arms around you, and we are here for you. The city of Allen pledges to offer our complete support. We know you are grieving, we are grieving. Rest assured, the nation and the world are also grieving.
Allen is a proud and safe city which makes today’s senseless act of violence even more shocking. However, I want to commend our police and fire departments for their quick response. Their thorough training not to hesitate to move toward the threat likely saved more lives today. We also want to thank all of our surrounding municipalities and law enforcement agencies for offering their assistance at the scene. This collective effort is what makes our North Texas communities united.
People who frequent the mall wrote about their shock on social media. “This is so heartbreaking! My Bestie and I had plans to go to this H&M today but neither of us were ready on time! Wow! Lord please touch everyone there and all families involved! 🥺🙏🏾” wrote one woman.
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