I just got the chills.
I I had been thinking about it and
I said it's it's could have been us,
it could have been a friend.
Schools across Allen hold
a moment of silence today,
remembering those lost in
the outlet mall shooting and
starting the healing process.
Welcome back to Midday.
I'm Megan Mitchell.
Hearts are happy this morning as
America's latest mass shooting
happens in our own backyard,
but literally on our front doorstep.
And this midday we are learning
more about this tragedy.
As we've now identified two of
the eight people killed Saturday.
We're still working to learn
the rest of those victims.
We do know that the suspect is
Mauricio Garcia, a police officer.
Killed him.
After the shooting,
FBI agents searched a home in
Dallas where our sources say
he had lived with his parents.
And also today at the Allen Outlet Mall,
where investigators remain on scene
are Chris Ottagi has much more.
Much of the activity this morning
at the outlet mall is happening,
and not where the memorial is going on,
but where the reunification
of cars is going on.
People boarding buses being
dropped off on the North End,
where they're getting an escort in
where they can finally get their car.
People that were here on Saturday when the
shooting happened and have been waiting
for a chance to get back to their vehicle.
The mall is still shut down,
No timetable on when it might open.
Also, Governor Greg Abbott was asked about
the Allen shooting and he made a comment.
From afar,
the process of getting people back in
their cars started at 10:00 this morning.
Since the entrance to the
mall is still shut down,
all the parking lots they are
bussing people over from the
city's senior Recreation Center.
This is video from our chopper of not
only where people are boarding the buses,
but also a family assistance Center
opened up there this morning to
help support people who were
impacted by the shooting.
Asked for how the state might
respond to this tragedy,
Governor Greg Abbott attended one of
the vigils here in Allen last night.
This morning he was back in Austin
to discuss border security ahead
of Title 42 expiring,
but he was asked about the
shooting here in Allen.
The people in Allen,
but especially the families.
They want to know right now why
this happened, how it happened.
I believe in the coming days the
public will be much better informed
about why now this happened.
And that will inform us as Texas
leaders about next steps to take
to try to prevent crimes like this
and taking place in the future.
We're also learning more about
the shooter. Texas DPS identified
him as 33 year old Mauricio Garcia.
The video you see here is officers looking
through the car he drove to the mall.
A search warrant, search warrant reveals
that they found several handguns,
long guns and ammo inside.
Sources tell WFAA he served
in the Army until 2008.
In 2008, when his service ended
due to mental health issues,
those sources also say he has a
history of extremist ideology that
includes expressing a dislike of
Jewish people and people of color.
We also know that investigators
were searching through a hotel
room where Garcia was living.
They're looking for any kind of
evidence or materials they might find
that give an idea into his motivation
and planning for this attack.
And Alan, I'm Chris Sidingy.
Now back to you.
All right, Chris, thank you.
And over the weekend,
we work to obtain exclusive details
about the planned attack on innocent
people in North Texas, your neighbors.
And we can finally put a
face to two of the victims.
Today, 20 year old Christian Lacour
was on duty as a security guard
at the mall when he was killed.
And Aishwarya the Tikanda
was also killed as well.
She's a McKinney resident
in North Texas and India.
She is also among the dead.
And of course,
we're staying on top of all of this
trying to learn more of the victims here.
And we'll keep you updated around the clock.
We'll bring updates new on
air and on wfaa.com and on our
WFAA mobile app as well.