Gunman kills eight at Texas mall

A new mass shooting in the United States. A gunman opened fire on Saturday (May 6) at a Dallas, Texas-area shopping center and killed eight people before being shot himself, authorities said.

“[Nous] found seven deceased individuals at the scene. We transported nine individuals to the hospital (…) Of those we transported, two have since died.”, said Jonathan Boyd, fire chief of Allen, a city located in northeast Texas where the shooting took place. The killings sparked panic at the Allen Premium Outlets, a sprawling shopping center filled with many shoppers who came there to do their weekend shopping.

An off-duty police officer was in the mall on another matter when shots rang out around 3:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m. GMT), local police chief Brian Harvey said. The agent “heard gunshots, surrendered [sur les lieux] shots, confronted the suspect and neutralized” individual, the local police chief reported.

The suspect acted alone

The identity of the shooter has not been released. His body was found dead when police reinforcements arrived, along with those of six other people. Among the wounded transported to nearby hospitals, “three are undergoing emergency surgery and four” are in stable condition, according to the fire chief.

Video images broadcast by the CNN channel (article in English) show the shooter getting out of a sedan in the mall parking lot and opening fire. There was initially talk of a possible second shooter, authorities say, but Brian Harvey said police believe the incapacitated suspect, whose identity is not yet known, has “acted alone”. The shooter was wearing tactical gear, according to CNN.