Texas mall shooting suspect Mauricio Garcia fired from US military

The man suspected of having opened fire and killed eight people in a Texas shopping center on Saturday had been expelled from the American army in 2008, after less than three months of exercise, a spokeswoman said on Monday May 8

Texas mall shooting suspect Mauricio Garcia fired from US military

The man suspected of having opened fire and killed eight people in a Texas shopping center on Saturday had been expelled from the American army in 2008, after less than three months of exercise, a spokeswoman said on Monday May 8. .

The shooter, shot by a police officer during the shooting, has been identified as Mauricio Garcia, a 33-year-old man from Dallas, in the southern United States.

He entered the Army "in June 2008, and was discharged three months later without completing initial training," Heather Hagan, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army, said Monday, adding that the he man had not been deployed in the field or decorated. She did not specify the reasons for her hasty departure.

The authorities also declined to comment on the suspect's alleged affiliation with far-right groups reported by American media. A police source, however, confirmed that these elements came from a leaked investigation document.

According to several American media and the investigation site Bellingcat, the suspect had an account on a Russian social network on which he shared remarks with misogynistic and neo-Nazi connotations, but also his concerns about his own mental health.

A heavy toll

On Saturday, a man dressed in paramilitary gear and armed with an assault rifle opened fire at a mall in Allen, north of Dallas, where many shoppers were shopping for the weekend, killing eight people and hurting others.

According to US media, three children were killed, including a three-year-old boy and his two parents. Only his 6-year-old brother survived the killing.

Two sisters aged 8 and 11, a 20-year-old security guard and a 26-year-old engineer were also among the victims.

With more guns than people, the United States has the highest gun death tolls of any developed country: 49,000 in 2021, up from 45,000 in 2020.

The specialized site Gun Violence Archive has already identified this year in the United States more than 199 acts where four or more people were injured or killed by gunshots.