TX - Active shooter at Allen Shopping Mall, multiple victims, 6 May 2023

[SouthAussie]

Now we have the names of all 8 victims who were shot dead at the mall. Everybody was younger than 38 years old.

Kang Shin Young, 35
Cho Kyu Song, 37
Their son, James, 3
Daniela Mendoza, 11
Sofia Mendoza, 8
Elio Cumana-Rivas, 32
Christian LaCour, 20
Aishwarya Thatikonda, 27

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/08/us/victims-allen-texas-outlet-mall-shooting/index.html

 

[steeltowngirl]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1656125835399643136

 

[Sonny Crockett]

Sickening, tragic, and extremely sad.

I'm no psychologist, but labeling all mass shooters like this as "mentally ill" seems erroneous. I.e., AFAIC this individual was evil & a domestic terrorist.

Again, glad he was taken out by the brave officer - who put his own life at risk to save others. Also glad this scum-bag wasn't captured alive; the trial would have been a media circus & would have cost the taxpayers a lot of $.

 

[Cryptic]

BBM. Didn't stand out much? Seriously? The maniac went on post on social media his crazy thoughts and decided to slaughter innocent people.

Please note, I said "likely" did not stand out

That aside, as @BeginnerSleuther (psychiatrist) related:

A. The behavior supporting a shooting rampage he demonstrated in 2023 might not have been strongly evident in 2008 when he was actually in the military.

B. Criminality, extremism of any type, and by extension, a willingness to commit a terror attack are not, in an of themselves, signs of mental illness.

Going back to standing out.....

The Army takes in tens of thousands of recruits a year. They have a strong interest in discharging those whose behavior- either willing, unwilling, or semi willing inherently prevents them from being a soldier.

As @justtrish related (husband is a professional NCO and drill instructor), Drill Instructors routinely uhmm...."strongly recommend" that trainees they feel are inherently unfit for service be discharged.

These people are probably then referred for a mental health exam during which the Drill Instructor's "recommendation" is given a lot of weight. They are then discharged under the 'catch all' regulation.

It is very likely that a busy basic training post discharges up to several dozen people a year under this "catch call" regulation. I don't think it is likely that he stood out much amongst this small group.

In short, he probably was not raving at the moon while putting up Hitler pictures in 2008. Rather, he could well have presented himself as a standard "not going to make a soldier" type person. Basic training posts have a steady stream of experience with these types.

 

[housewife]

BBM. Didn't stand out much? Seriously? The maniac went on post on social media his crazy thoughts and decided to slaughter innocent people.

Texas mall shooter was expelled from military over mental health concerns

Mauricio Garcia, who entered the military in 2008, was dismissed before completing his basic training to become an infantry soldier.

www.nbcnews.com

After the gunman, Mauricio Garcia, entered basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, in June 2008, Army officials were concerned about his mental health early on and said he also had an adjustment disorder, the officials said.

Hank Sibley, a regional director at the Texas Department of Public Safety, said that investigators are looking into Garcia's separation from the military and that information about his "fitness for duty" would be forthcoming.

This quote seems to indicate his racial bias was apparent when he was discharged?

An Army official told WFAA that Garcia had been in the U.S. Army in 2008 but was removed due to mental health concerns. Sources added that he espoused an extremist right-wing ideology and disliked people of color and Jews.

 

[housewife]

Was he born here, came in with migrants. How could he have gone so wrong with the opportunties this country offers for people?

With all the opportunities this country offers, how could so many of our own natural born US citizens go so wrong?

Our incredibly high number of mass shootings are a uniquely American problem. This hatred and unregulated access to killing tools are home-grown. In other words, the call is coming from inside the house.

A quick google search: The suspect is a U.S. citizen who has never applied for a passport, the law enforcement documents also noted.

 

[Elliot_Alderson]

This quote seems to indicate his racial bias was apparent when he was discharged?

An Army official told WFAA that Garcia had been in the U.S. Army in 2008 but was removed due to mental health concerns. Sources added that he espoused an extremist right-wing ideology and disliked people of color and Jews.

But he is a person of color...?

 

[Ontario Mom]

This quote seems to indicate his racial bias was apparent when he was discharged?

An Army official told WFAA that Garcia had been in the U.S. Army in 2008 but was removed due to mental health concerns. Sources added that he espoused an extremist right-wing ideology and disliked people of color and Jews.

Due to his actions and his alleged social media (notice the pics of him with the nazi tats, you don't see his face at all?) we know the guy was a racist, evil, violent monster. But so far, this is the only mention I've seen that anyone said he was espousing extremist right wing idealogy, and disliked people of color and Jews... 15 years ago, when he was discharged from the Army.

I'm wondering if anyone who knows him has come forward to confirm this?

 

[Elliot_Alderson]

Due to his actions and his alleged social media (notice the pics of him with the nazi tats, you don't see his face at all?) we know the guy was a racist, evil, violent monster. But so far, this is the only mention I've seen that anyone said he was espousing extremist right wing idealogy, and disliked people of color and Jews... 15 years ago, when he was discharged from the Army.

I'm wondering if anyone who knows him has come forward to confirm this?

Are you implying these tattoo pictures are not of him? Or that they are fake? I thought I had read a DM article this morning saying they were visible in the same video as the one where he takes off a Ghostface mask. A giant SS tattoo is generally a sign someone dislikes people of color and Jews. If I read the post wrong, then ignore my idiot self.

 

[Ontario Mom]

But he is a person of color...?

Yes he is. It makes no sense he'd align with any kind of extremist groups that technically... hate him.
Because they're racist nutcases too.
And no one on the planet is/was going to mistake this dude for a white guy, no matter what his ethnicity is.
The whole thing seems a little too (I can't come up with the right word) tidy? Convenient? Weird? Backwards?

 

[wintry]

But he is a person of color...?

Not necessarily. White Hispanics do exist.

 

[Elliot_Alderson]

Yes he is. It makes no sense he'd align with any kind of extremist groups that technically... hate him.
Because they're racist nutcases too.
And no one on the planet is/was going to mistake this dude for a white guy, no matter what his ethnicity is.
The whole thing seems a little too (I can't come up with the right word) tidy? Convenient? Weird? Backwards?

Something is off, but it wouldn't be the first time I had read about a self-hating type thing like this. I don't really know any right wing extremist racists personally, so I don't really know how this would work. Would a giant Swastika and SS tattoo make them forgive his race and accept him as one of their own? I don't necessarily think so, but these obviously aren't the most logical people we are talking about. JMO

 

[Elliot_Alderson]

Not necessarily. White Hispanics do exist.

I understand that. My girlfriend is I guess what you'd call a "white Hispanic" but she's also not a Nazi. Mixed people exist too. Are these people accepted by right wing extremists?

 

[wintry]

I understand that. My girlfriend is I guess what you'd call a "white Hispanic" but she's also not a Nazi. Mixed people exist too. Are these people accepted by right wing extremists?

Now that I would not know. Nick Fuentes seems to be but he also has the benefit of being half "acceptable" white.

 

[10ofRods]

Yes he is. It makes no sense he'd align with any kind of extremist groups that technically... hate him.
Because they're racist nutcases too.
And no one on the planet is/was going to mistake this dude for a white guy, no matter what his ethnicity is.
The whole thing seems a little too (I can't come up with the right word) tidy? Convenient? Weird? Backwards?

I teach at an institution that is nearly all Hispanic. Many consider themselves (racially) to be "white." US Census has a peculiar way of handling this:

Improvements to the 2020 Census Race and Hispanic Origin Question Designs, Data Processing, and Coding Procedures

This blog discusses how we improved the census questions on race and Hispanic origin, also known as ethnicity, between 2010 and 2020.

www.census.gov

Hispanics are not considered a race, but a complex category. Further, some Hispanics (not considering themselves to be a race or a particular color) are racist against other PoC and against particular religious groups.

At any rate, we have gang issues in Los Angeles and one of them is that *some* Hispanic gang members view Blacks as their sworn enemy and we've had one student murdered in the past 10 years (black student specifically targeted by Hispanics in what was eventually deemed a gang related shooting. The deceased student and his mother were both in my classes. She launched an awareness campaign around this issue.

At any rate, white-identifying Hispanics do exist (and some Hispanics have blue eyes and light skin). But racism is learned in any case, and some Hispanic-identifying people are taught racism at home; others fall into it via the Internet. Some are enraged that other people regard them, too, as PoC (esp. if they have an accent, even with blue eyes).

It's complex. Humans are capable of holding wildly contradictory beliefs, which swim through their minds in succession.

IMO. I have no clue how we're supposed to solve this.

 

[Ontario Mom]

Are you implying these tattoo pictures are not of him? Or that they are fake? I thought I had read a DM article this morning saying they were visible in the same video as the one where he takes off a Ghostface mask. A giant SS tattoo is generally a sign someone dislikes people of color and Jews. If I read the post wrong, then ignore my idiot self.

No I'm not really trying to imply anything, other than we all know by now that there is SO much fake junk on the internet, it's a red flag to me when I see a picture of "so and so" but it never shows his face, you know? It's like... sure, let's see a full torso shot including the guy's face. Even then, these days? That could be fake too. I've seen the "social media" version of people I know in real life and I'm stunned by the filters & fake junk people add to make themselves look completely different. If they're real, they're real. We already know the guy was an evil monster so that's not even on the table.

The pics and the posts though? Some of those posts look like they were written by chatGPT. Who knows, maybe he did post stuff using that, or used tattoo filters and those aren't real either.

I confess, lol, I'm completely skeptical. The internets are completly FILLED with fakery so, it's kind of hard not to be.

 

[10ofRods]

...

 

[MoominMama222]

Yes he is. It makes no sense he'd align with any kind of extremist groups that technically... hate him.
Because they're racist nutcases too.
And no one on the planet is/was going to mistake this dude for a white guy, no matter what his ethnicity is.
The whole thing seems a little too (I can't come up with the right word) tidy? Convenient? Weird? Backwards?

But people here have provided so many links to people of color, especially Hispanics who may consider themselves white, who have become radicalized by white nationalist ideology. Why dismiss so much evidence and say it's merely a convenient assertion when there have been so many examples given of this already?

 

[MoominMama222]

Something is off, but it wouldn't be the first time I had read about a self-hating type thing like this. I don't really know any right wing extremist racists personally, so I don't really know how this would work. Would a giant Swastika and SS tattoo make them forgive his race and accept him as one of their own? I don't necessarily think so, but these obviously aren't the most logical people we are talking about. JMO

Here's a link to more info on this phenomenon. https://www.axios.com/2022/03/10/rise-white-nationalist-hispanics-latinos

 

[Ontario Mom]

I teach at an institution that is nearly all Hispanic. Many consider themselves (racially) to be "white." US Census has a peculiar way of handling this:

Improvements to the 2020 Census Race and Hispanic Origin Question Designs, Data Processing, and Coding Procedures

This blog discusses how we improved the census questions on race and Hispanic origin, also known as ethnicity, between 2010 and 2020.

www.census.gov

Hispanics are not considered a race, but a complex category. Further, some Hispanics (not considering themselves to be a race or a particular color) are racist against other PoC and against particular religious groups.

At any rate, we have gang issues in Los Angeles and one of them is that *some* Hispanic gang members view Blacks as their sworn enemy and we've had one student murdered in the past 10 years (black student specifically targeted by Hispanics in what was eventually deemed a gang related shooting. The deceased student and his mother were both in my classes. She launched an awareness campaign around this issue.

At any rate, white-identifying Hispanics do exist (and some Hispanics have blue eyes and light skin). But racism is learned in any case, and some Hispanic-identifying people are taught racism at home; others fall into it via the Internet. Some are enraged that other people regard them, too, as PoC (esp. if they have an accent, even with blue eyes).

It's complex. Humans are capable of holding wildly contradictory beliefs, which swim through their minds in succession.

IMO.

I always appreciate your insight on cases so thank you for sharing that.

I have a former (thankfully) brother in law who had a white mom & Mexican dad. He was blonde and blue eyed, with pale skin and as racist against white people as you can possibly be. Everyone that knew him was like "dude, you're half white, shut up" but he didn't care, he just hated whoever he hated for his own ignorant reasons. Now I have to wonder if that wasn't a mental thing because most of his family actually looked Mexican, and he definitely did not. Maybe he hated that he looked white so hated white people by default?

I'm sure by now you've seen the shooter's pics. Brown skin, brown eyes, dark hair.
I don't know if he identified as white but to me, there's no way he'd pass for white even if he identified that way.
That's just a part of what makes this whole terrible tragedy even harder to understand.

jmo