On Sunday, authorities revealed that the Dallas-area outlet mall shooter who killed eight and wounded several others was a 33-year-old suspected neo-Nazi sympathizer.
Police identified the shooter as Mauricio Garcia. He was later shot and killed by an officer on Saturday at the Allen Premium Outlets.
According to President Biden, the shooter was armed with an “AR-15 style assault weapon.”
Law enforcement officials say that he was wearing a tactical vest and also carrying a handgun.
Sources say that additional firearms and ammunition were found in his car.
According to two senior law enforcement officials, he was wearing a patch on his chest that included the acronym “rwds” at the time of the shooting.
One of the senior law enforcement officials noted that the letters are believed to stand for “right wing death squad,” a term common in far-right internet forums.
Hundreds of posts on what’s believed to be the shooter’s social media accounts contain violent extremist rhetoric aimed at racial or ethnic minority groups, including neo-Nazi propaganda and white supremacy-supporting material, the two senior law enforcement officials said.
The initial investigation revealed that no one liked or shared the shooter’s social media posts.
According to the two senior law enforcement sources, the incident is being looked into as a case of violent extremism motivated by race or ethnicity by police and the Texas Rangers in collaboration with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
One of the officials added that the authorities believe the shooter operated alone. Investigators are speaking with his friends and family.
This has been Texas‘ second mass shooting in a little over a week and the second deadliest in the United States this year.
