Gunman in Texas killing was discharged from Army after 3 months

ALLEN, Tex. – The gunman who killed eight people at an outlet mall in suburban Dallas on Saturday briefly received military training but was discharged from the U.S. Army after just three months of service, the Army said Monday.

Mauricio Garcia, 33, joined the Army in June 2008 but was “terminated” three months later, failing to complete his initial training, said Heather J. Hagan, an Army spokesperson.

Garcia had been removed under administrative guidelines for “physical and mental conditions” but officials did not specify what condition ultimately led to his removal.

The disclosure comes as officials are still trying to piece together what might have caused Garcia to rampage at the mall until he was confronted by a police officer who shot and killed him.

The shooting, the country’s 22nd mass killing so far this year, horrified the diverse, affluent communities that make up the northern suburbs of Dallas. The killings are also reigniting debate over whether Texas gun laws are stringent enough.

Garcia walked up to Allen Premium Outlets in Allen carrying multiple weapons and had five additional guns in a vehicle in the mall’s parking lot, people familiar with the investigation told The Washington Post.

Authorities still have not released a motive for Garcia’s rampage, but they are investigating his suspected links to white supremacists and neo-Nazi beliefs. Garcia arrived at the mall wearing a jacket that included a patch that read “RWDS,” which stands for Right Wing Death Squad. The phrase is popular with extremist groups including neo-Nazis and white supremacists, causing authorities to try to determine whether Garcia carried out a hate crime.

At least seven people ranging in age from 5 to 61 were also wounded in the attack. Medical City Healthcare, a network of Dallas-area hospitals, said Monday it is still treating six of those wounded, including three who are in critical condition.

On Monday, the Allen Police Department declined to answer additional questions about the investigations, referring calls to the Texas Department of Public Safety. A spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Allen shooting occurred just a little more than a week after a gunman, armed with an AR-15-style weapon, shot and killed five of his neighbors in Cleveland, Texas. The family had asked the man, who was arrested after an extensive manhunt, to stop firing his weapon so they could sleep.

The back-to-back incidents have increased calls for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and GOP lawmakers in the legislature to rethink state gun laws. But with Texas’s biannual legislative scheduled to conclude in late May, supporters of tougher rules still face a steep hurdle to persuade the Republican-controlled legislature to take action.

On Monday, the last day to get a bill to the House floor to take a vote, relatives of the victims of the deadly school killing in Uvalde packed into the State House in Austin and urged lawmakers to pass legislation raising the minimum age to buy certain types of firearms to 21, up from 18.

In a surprise move, a House committee voted Monday to approve the legislation, sending the bill to the House floor. The vote, which included support from two Republicans, elicited cheers from relatives of the victims who died in the Uvalde massacre last year.

But Democratic lawmakers have said it’s still unlikely that the measure will make it through both the Texas House and Senate to become law.