The shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets mall saw several people die, and countless others wounded
U.S. President Joe Biden has called on Congress to pass gun control bills, in the wake of another mass shooting that left nine people dead, including the gunman, at a Texas mall.
The President renewed calls for Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, as well as to enact universal background checks and end immunity for gun manufacturers.
A gunman killed several people at a busy mall northeast of Dallas in Texas, before a police officer shot him dead.
Eyewitness video captured the sounds of gunshots ringing out from the Allen Premium Outlets mall.
“At 3:36pm, our officer was at Allen Premium Outlets on an unrelated call. He heard gunshots, located the gunshots, located the shooter, neutralised the shooter and neutralised the threat. We believe at this point that the shooter acted alone,” Allen police chief Brian Harvey said.
Police said they’re still trying to establish a motive.
Medical City Healthcare, which runs 16 hospitals in the area, said in a statement that its trauma centres were treating wounded victims, with the youngest just five years old.
“I heard the gunshots, and we just all rushed to the back. We’re all freaking out. We’re like, ‘what’s going on? What’s going on?’ And I had to go back to the front to lock the door. That’s when I saw, like, cops all coming in and helicopters was coming in. SWAT team was coming in. I was like, ‘what’s going on? Then a second time, this time it was for real. You know, we all in the back got the safe,” A mall store employee said.
Allen is a community of about 100,000 people, around 25 miles northeast of Dallas.
In a written statement, Texas Governor Greg Abbott called the shooting an “unspeakable tragedy” and said the state was prepared to offer any assistance that local authorities may need.
