Groups demand officials share information on Texas mall gunman’s motives
DALLAS — Members of several Texas groups representing people of color on Monday demanded that authorities quickly acknowledge whether they believe the neo-Nazi who killed eight people at a Dallas-area mall over a week ago was racially motivated in choosing his victims.
More than a week after the May 6 attack at the Allen Premium Outlets, authorities haven’t released a motive for the attack, and a Texas Department of Public Safety official has said it appeared that 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia targeted the location rather than a specific group of people.
But Lily Trieu, interim executive director of Asian Texans for Justice, said at a news conference that many community members who contacted her felt that assessment was “outrageous.”
The victims — who include three members of a Korean American family and an engineer from India — represented a cross-section of the increasingly diverse Dallas suburbs.
“You can’t separate location from the people who live there, and what Allen is known for, as being diverse, as being an area where there is a large Asian American and South Asian American population,” said Stephanie Drenka, co-founder and executive director of the Dallas Asian American Historical Society.
She said that the Department of Public Safety official’s statement “shows a fundamental lack of understanding of how systemic racism works and how it is embedded in every system and every place.”
Authorities have acknowledged the authenticity of a social media account on which the gunman, who had no criminal record, displayed a fascination with white supremacy while offering hints of his research and planning.
