Texas mall shooter shared extremist beliefs on apparent social media page
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • last year • 22 commentsBy: Brandy Zadrozny, Courtney Kube, Ken Dilanian and Erik Ortiz
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A social media page appearing to belong to a gunman who killed eight people at a Dallas-area outlet mall had shared extremist beliefs with rants against Jews, women and racial minorities posted since September, as well as posts about struggling with mental health.
Mauricio Garcia, 33, maintained a profile on the Russian social networking platform OK.ru, including posts referring to extremist online forums, such as 4chan, and content from white nationalists, including Nick Fuentes, an antisemitic white nationalist provocateur.
In the weeks before the attack, Garcia posted more than two dozen photos of Allen Premium Outlets, where an officer killed him after the shooting Saturday, and surrounding areas, including several screenshots of Google location information, seemingly monitoring the mall at its busiest times.
Many of his posts referred to his mental health. In his final post, he lamented what his family might say and wrote that no psychologist would have been able to fix him.
In another post, he made disturbing comments about what makes a mass shooting "important" and praised a person who opened fire at a private Christian school in Nashville,Tennessee, this year, killing six people, including three children.
The shooter also posted a series of links to other sites, including a YouTube account that featured a video published the day of the shooting. In it he removed a "Scream" mask and said, "Not quite what you were expecting, huh?"
He also posted photos of a flak vest emblazoned with patches, one of them with the initialism for "Right Wing Death Squad," a popular meme among far-right extremist groups. Another post included a series of shirtless pictures with visible white power tattoos, including SS lightning bolts and a swastika.
The shooter was armed with multiple weapons, including an AR-15-style rifle and a handgun, authorities said.
Families confirm 2 victims of Texas mall shooting
May 8, 202303:15
Agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were tracing at least four weapons found at the scene, a law enforcement source said, including weapons found in his vehicle.
Electronic receipts posted on the shooter's social media account appear to show he spent more than $3,200 on three types of firearms he bought in June through a Dallas gun distributor.
Many of Garcia's other posts were misogynistic, railing against women and parroting language used in incel, or involuntary celibate, communications. In the posts, Garcia referred to specific incel forums and valorized a gunman whose 2014 mass murder spree in Isla Vista, California, is celebrated in incel communities.
Authorities have not revealed a motive. A senior law enforcement source said the gunman's social media site is part of the investigation.
The officials said the preliminary review found the gunman's social media posts were not liked or shared by other users and stressed that the investigation continues.
An official said that authorities believe the shooter acted alone and that investigators continued to interview his relatives and friends.
Analyzing evidence
Federal, state and local law enforcement officials are analyzing evidence seized at two locations in Dallas: his family's home in a northeast neighborhood and at a hotel north of downtown.
The evidence that has been gathered suggests the shooter subscribed to a "mishmash" of ideologies, said a law enforcement official familiar with details of the investigation. But the official cautioned it may take weeks or months for agents to analyze the information to gain a more complete picture of his ideology.
Garcia has no criminal record that authorities were immediately aware of.
He joined the Army in June 2008 but was kicked out after three months for a physical or mental condition. He did not complete basic training, nor was he ever deployed or did he receive any awards, said Heather Hagan, an Army spokeswoman.
"We do not provide characterization of discharge for any soldier," she added.
Authorities searched a home in a tree-lined neighborhood of Dallas connected with the gunman and his family. People could be seen coming and going from the residence; those who came to the door Monday declined to comment.
Texas shootings
The shooting in Allen came barely a week after a man fatally shot five people in Cleveland, Texas, north of Houston, after a neighbor asked him to stop firing his weapon while a baby slept.
There have also been seven mass shootings in Texas since the elementary school massacre in Uvalde a year ago, in which 21 people were killed, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. This year has had an average of about one mass killing a week, the AP reported.
Texas Senate Democrats called on the GOP-led Legislature to pass new gun laws Monday, including restricting the age to own guns and closing gun show loopholes.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez tweeted Monday afternoon that House Bill 2744 passed the Community Safety Committee and will head to the House Calendar Committee.
"Our voices are making a difference. The push to bring this bill to the House floor continues," he said.
The bill is backed by families who lost loved ones in the Uvalde massacre. In that case, the gunman used an AR-15-style rifle he bought days after he turned 18.
Allen, about 25 miles north of downtown Dallas and with a population of about 105,000, is among the Dallas-Fort Worth area's diverse suburbs.
The community also is connected to another of Texas' recent mass shootings. A man lived there in 2019 before he posted a racist screed online that warned of a "Hispanic invasion" and drove to El Paso, where he opened fire at a Walmart, killing 23 people. The 24-year-old gunman pleaded guilty to federal hate crime and weapons charges in February.
Scott Friedman, Deon J. Hampton, Char Adams, The Associated Press and Tim Stelloh contributed.
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This makes me wonder if there was a mental illness that, had it been reported, might have been evaluated and treated, instead of leading to a mass shooting.
Sounds like the Army failed him. They should have made sure he was getting the help he needed after they kicked him out. Even then, if he had a mental condition they should have recognized that before he was enlisted
The military discharged his, according to the article for a "physical or mental" condition. It doesn't state exactly which. As far as failing, this kids parents, friends, and friends failed him. They had daily interaction with them, they would have seen an issue first yet did nothing.
In my experience, certain mental conditions are untreatable.
Used to live and work in a town with five mental hospitals.
So we have reporting that he was kicked out of the Army after three months for a physical or mental condition but no further details. And it looks like he legally purchased three of those firearms in June.
Is this similar to the Sutherland Springs shooting? Did the Army fail us here also by not forwarding pertinent information to the NICS system which allowed this individual to purchase the guns? It sure seems like this was someone who should not be allowed to have guns in his possession. If he had mental issues which seem to be the issue here, how then did the State of Texas not have that information also to prevent him from obtaining guns and from even his license and security training with guns in the first place?
Federal, state and local law enforcement officials are analyzing evidence seized at two locations in Dallas: his family's home in a northeast neighborhood and at a hotel north of downtown.
The evidence that has been gathered suggests the shooter subscribed to a "mishmash" of ideologies, said a law enforcement official familiar with details of the investigation. But the official cautioned it may take weeks or months for agents to analyze the information to gain a more complete picture of his ideology.
So now the FBI choses to release info as it "analyzes' the information, yet it has been 6 weeks since the Nashville school shooting and the Feds still haven't released the Trans killer's manifesto.
Need to know basis?
Ongoing investigation?
What ongoing investigation would be hurt by releasing the Trans killer's manifesto? Not like they have a pending murder case to prosecute for this. They have been quick to release information about this latest Dallis shooting but are still holding back on the Nashville school shooting, why?
I don't know what the Army would have reported that would be a disqualifier:
18 U.S.C. §922 (g) (1) Has been convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year
18 U.S.C. §922 (g) (4) Has been adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution
18 U.S.C. §922 (g) (6) Has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions
Looks like you replied to the wrong post, you meant to reply to post 1.3.
As we don't have any other details about his discharge it's difficult to say. The Southerland Springs shooter should have been disqualified from purchasing the gun due to a conviction of domestic violence in a court-martial but the Air Force did not forward that information to NICS. Was there any information that the Army should have forwarded to NICS that could have prevented this guy from purchasing his guns? We just don't know yet.
It would have been tempting to say that he was the kind of internet white supremacist who fits a cartoonish characterization,play acting at being a Hitler fan and Stormfront devotee, maybe practicing Nazi salutes in his bathroom mirror, and bragging with his vile online friends about how superior they are, it might be considered cartoonish, but then he killed 9 people. Sometimes the "just talk" extremism becomes horrifying reality.
"Texas Senate Democrats called on the GOP-led Legislature to pass new gun laws Monday, including restricting the age to own guns and closing gun show loopholes."
I doubt more common sense laws would have stopped him. [deleted]
Seems only democrats take the wave of mass shootings seriously.
It's the far right and the NRA who downplay them as being simply aberrations.
There have been 202 mass shootings in the U.S. this year alone.
Mass murder is absolutely HILARIOUS!!
Nope, but stating that only democrats take mass shootings seriously is HILARIOUS!!!!!
I kinda feel sorry for people who chose to live in Texas, where mentally deranged people can get mass murder machinery as easily as a gallon of milk. It’s their choice though.
My son lives in Houston... because that's where his job is.
Precisely.
Of course there are always a few exceptions to the rule:
On the button. Just outliers.