‘I need everybody I got’: Audio captures moments officer confronts Allen mall gunman
The tense moments in the minutes between a gunman opening fire at Allen Premium Outlets and a police officer fatally shooting him were captured on a dispatch recording which shows the officer screaming for backup as he approaches the gunman.
A little after 3:30 p.m. Saturday, an Allen police officer was responding to an unrelated call at the outlet mall when he heard gunshots. The sprawling open-air shopping center has about 120 stores.
“We got shots fired at the outlet mall,” the unnamed officer tells a dispatcher.
The dispatcher repeats his call for other authorities on the channel.
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“Received, shots fired at the outlet mall,” the dispatcher is heard saying.
A few seconds later, the officer describes seeing people running, and another officer says he’s on the way from the local In-n-Out Burger, less than a mile away.
“... at Polo Ralph Lauren, moving. Trying to get to him,” the initial officer said. “[There’s] still shooting.”
A video circulating on social media showed the gunman exiting his vehicle and opening fire outside H&M, which is adjacent to Polo Ralph Lauren.
The initial officer says in the recording he’s moving toward the gunman and trying to get to him, his voice panting as he speaks. A minute after he reported shots, the gunman is still shooting, he says.
Dispatchers then say they received another call at the outlet mall, and the officer gets back on the channel. He shouts for backup.
“I need everybody I got!” the officer says.
It’s unclear what he says next, but a dispatcher tells him she got his message. The officer then says he’s at Tommy Hilfiger on the north side of the mall and doesn’t know where the gunman is. He still hears shots.
About a minute and a half later, he’s back on the channel. He’s moving in on the gunman, he tells the dispatcher.
His words are hard to discern soon after. Four minutes after he first reported hearing shots, his last words on the recording are “watch your fire.” It’s not clear if this was the moment he took out the gunman.
A little after 4 p.m., a law enforcement officer on another dispatch recording says they spoke with Allen police who confirmed “the shooter is down.” The officer killed the gunman within three to four minutes of the first shots, Allen police chief Brian Harvey said at a Tuesday briefing. The suspect was identified as Mauricio Garcia, 33.
“If he hadn’t been there,” said Hank Sibley, the Texas Department of Public Safety’s North Texas regional director. “I think we’d have had a much more severe situation.”
Eight people were killed in the shooting at the outlet mall, and seven others were wounded. Four of the deceased were of Asian descent.
The victims killed Saturday were identified as Cho Kyu Song, 37; Kang Shin Young, 35; James Cho, 3; Daniela Mendoza, 11; Sofia Mendoza, 8; Christian LaCour, 20; Elio Cumana-Rivas, 32; and Aishwarya Thatikonda, 26.
Emergency personnel were initially staged on the west side of the outlet mall. Scanner traffic reported victims inside multiple stores. Officers pleaded for emergency personnel to report to H&M; helicopter footage showed four white tarps outside that store.
“I need an ambulance at H&M, I’ve got victims. We need an ambulance,“ one first responder is heard saying.
”We can’t get these people to the ambulance,” another replies.
Seven people were pronounced dead at the scene, including the gunman, and two others died at the hospital.
The community mourned the victims Sunday, with churches across Dallas-Fort Worth hosting services to remember the lives of those lost.
Authorities briefed the public Tuesday on the shooting for the first time at Allen City Hall since Saturday, saying the gunman brought eight legally purchased weapons to the mall with him.
“Does that suspect have an AR rifle?” one person asked on the recording.
“10-4... He does,” a first-responder replied.
They said the gunman had three guns with him and five were in his vehicle but did not share additional information.
Sibley said Tuesday determining the gunman’s motive is the focus of the investigation. Garcia’s social media posts revealed his Nazi sympathies and adoration of mass shootings.
Zach Horn, an attorney for the police officer who shot Garcia, gave a statement to WFAA-TV (Channel 8).
“The officer sprinted towards high power rifle fire as everyone else ran away,” Horn wrote in the statement. “He’s a brave servant with a gentle heart that embodies the best the law enforcement profession has to offer.”
Morning News staffers Jamie Landers, Kelli Smith, Isabella Volmert, Christopher Wynn and Julie Fisk contributed to this report.
Source: The Dallas Morning News
