A gunman opened fire on Saturday, May 6, in a shopping center in the Dallas, Texas area, killing at least eight people and injuring seven others, before being shot. The shooting took place at the Allen Premium Outlets, a sprawling mall in the town of Allen, some 40 miles north of Dallas, which was filled with many customers who came to shop there for the weekend.
” [Nous] found seven individuals killed at the scene. We transported nine individuals to hospital (…). Of those we transported, two have since died”said Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd.
A policeman was in the mall on another case when shots rang out around 3:30 p.m. (10:30 p.m. in Paris), local police chief Brian Harvey said. The agent “heard gunshots, surrendered [sur les lieux] shots, confronted the suspect and incapacitated” individual, the local police chief reported. He immediately called for help.
The identity of the shooter has not been released. His body was found dead when police reinforcements arrived, along with those of six other people. Among the wounded transported to nearby hospitals, “three are undergoing emergency surgery and four” are in stable condition, according to the fire chief. Among those hit by the shots is a 5-year-old child, according to a hospital official quoted by NBC News.
An “unspeakable tragedy”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott lamented a “unspeakable tragedy”. US President Joe Biden “was informed of the shooting”a White House official told reporters.
Local authorities praised the action of the police officer who shot the shooter. “We have a debt (…) to the first responders who rushed [sur les lieux] shots and acted quickly to neutralize the threat”said the Republican representative from Texas, whose constituency includes the city of Allen.
Video footage released by CNN shows the gunman getting out of a sedan in the mall parking lot and opening fire. There was initially talk of a possible second shooter, authorities say, but Brian Harvey said police believe the incapacitated suspect, whose identity is not yet known, has “act alone”. The shooter was wearing tactical gear, according to CNN.
Janet St. James, spokeswoman for Medical City Healthcare, which operates several trauma centers in North Texas, said she saw eight patients who were victims of the shooting, ages 5 to 61, according to NBC News. According to Jaynal Pervez, a witness interviewed by the CBS channel and who arrived on the spot after a call from his daughter, present in the mall, chaos took hold of the site. “I saw shoes, people’s phones in the street”he testified.
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The Gun Violence Archive site has already recorded this year in the United States nearly 200 mass killings, that is to say where four or more people were injured or killed.