Allen, Texas, shooter may have been right-wing extremist: police

Authorities said Sunday they’re examining possible right-wing extremist motives for the gunman who slaughtered eight people and wounded seven others at a Texas shopping mall.

Investigators are scrutinizing social media accounts that they believe are shooter Mauricio Garcia’s, along with posts expressing interest in white supremacist and neo-Nazi views.

On Saturday at about 2 p.m., Garcia, 33, moved people down with an AR-15 style assault rifle at a Dallas-area mall. He was shot dead by a police officer who happened to be nearby.

A patch Garcia wore bore the abbreviation “RWDS,” or “Right Wing Death Squad,” a meme sometimes used by right-wing extremists and white supremacy groups.

The Southern Poverty Law Center said some extremist group members have worn patches sporting the same acronym.

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The investigation of that aspect of the massacre was in its early stages, yielding scant information as of Sunday night.

“We actually don’t have a lot,” Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey said, declining further comment.

Police have not yet publicly identified the victims, but confirmed they were ages 5 to 61.

Garcia obliterated several people who were walking along the sidewalk outside the mall, Allen Premium Outlets, in the suburb about 25 miles north of Allen north of Dallas. He had a handgun in addition to the rifle, law enforcement officials said, and he was clad in a tactical vest. The shooting prompted President Biden to once again call for controls on assault weapons.

Garcia’s social media accounts contained hundreds of posts of a racial or ethnic nature that were violent and extremist, senior law enforcement officials told NBC News. There was also neo-Nazi and white supremacist material, they said. The posts did not get any traction via “likes” or shares from fellow users, the officials said.

The posts have led police and the Texas Rangers, with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, to investigate the case as violent extremism fueled by race and ethnic tropes, the sources said.

With News Wire Services