The facts took place in a large shopping center in the city of Allen, in the Dallas area. The shooter was shot on the spot.
A gunman opened fire on Saturday at a Dallas-area shopping center in the US state of Texas, killing eight people before being shot dead, authorities said.
“(We) found seven individuals deceased at the scene. We transported nine individuals to hospital (…) Of those we transported, two have since died,” said Jonathan Boyd, fire chief of Allen, a town in northeast Texas where the shooting took place.
The shooting took place at Allen Premium Outletsa large shopping center in the city of Allen, in the northeastern US state of Texas, filled with many customers who came to do their weekend shopping there.
A police officer present
An off-duty police officer was in the mall on another matter when shots rang out around 3:30 p.m. local time, local police chief Brian Harvey said.
The officer “heard gunshots, went to (the scene) gunshots, confronted the suspect and incapacitated” the 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 injured 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 five-year-old child, according to a hospital official quoted by the media NBC News.
State Governor Greg Abbott lamented an “unspeakable tragedy”. US President Joe Biden “has been briefed on the shooting,” a White House official told reporters.
The suspect acted alone
Local authorities praised the action of the police officer who shot the shooter. “We owe a debt … to the first responders who rushed (to the scene) with fire and acted quickly to neutralize the threat,” said Keith Self, Republican Representative from Texas, whose constituency includes the town 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 said, but Brian Harvey said police believe the incapacitated suspect, whose identity is not yet known, “acted alone”.
Victims aged 5 to 61
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 on the street,” he testified.
Tactical equipment
The shooter was wearing tactical gear, according to CNN. With more firearms than people, the United States has the highest firearm death rate of all developed countries: 49,000 in 2021, compared to 45,000 in 2020.
The website Gun Violence Archive has already recorded this year in the United States more than 195 mass killings, that is to say where four or more people were injured or killed.