Gunfire erupted in the parking lot of the Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, Texas, sending panicked shoppers screaming and scrambling for cover on Saturday, May 7, 2023.
After the chaos subsided, police discovered that eight people were killed and seven others were injured in Allen, a prosperous suburb about 25 miles north of Dallas, according to ABC 8.
Fortunately, an Allen police officer’s quick response to neutralize the shooter prevented further carnage. He was already at the mall for an unrelated matter when he ran toward the commotion and shot the assailant to death.
The television station stated that it obtained footage of the alleged shooter lying on the pavement with an AR-15 automatic rifle nearby. He was reportedly strapped with black body armor and was armed with several extra magazines in his chest gear.
Nine people were rushed to the emergency room with two of them succumbing to their injuries. Of the survivors, three have been listed in critical condition and undergoing surgery while four others were in stable condition, ABC 8 reports.
CNN stated that video footage shows hundreds of shoppers being led out of the mall with their hands up.
This is the 199th mass shooting so far in America in 2023, according to The Gun Violence Archives. Gov. Greg Abbott told Fox News he will visit Allen sometime on Sunday.
“There are questions that are lingering that the families want answers to,” Abbott said, such as, “ ‘Why did this happen? Why did the gunman do this? How did this happen?’ And I know that those families need an answer as quickly as possible.”
