The president of United States, Joe Bidenurged Congress again Sunday to ban assault rifles after a man opened fire at a Texas shopping mall, killing eight people, including children.
This new shooting in the United States caused panic on Saturday at the Allen Premium Outlets, a shopping complex in the city of Allen, about 40 kilometers north of Dallas, which was packed with people doing weekend shopping.
Police said an officer was at the scene on another case when gunshots were heard around 3:30 p.m. (2030 GMT). The cash “engaged the suspect and neutralized him,” Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey said.
Video footage circulating online shows a man getting out of a car in the mall parking lot and opening fire on people walking nearby.
The identity of the attacker who, according to press reports, was wearing paramilitary equipment and he was carrying an AR-15-style assault rifle and extra magazines.
Six people lost their lives on the spot and two others died at the hospital. Among them were children, a White House memo noted.
Three of the seven injured required emergency surgery, Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said.
A stricter carry policy
President Joe Biden, a supporter of stricter gun laws, denounced “senseless acts of violence” in Texas on Sunday and again urged Congress to take action.
“Once again, I call on Congress to send me a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Enact universal background checks. Require safe (weapon) storage. End immunity for arms manufacturers,” he said in a statement.
“I will promulgate it immediately,” he said.
But his push is unlikely to succeed because Republicans, who control the (lower) House, are fiercely opposed to such measures.
Biden also ordered that American flags fly at half mast at all federal buildings until sunset on May 11, as a “sign of respect for the victims,” the White House stressed.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called the shooting an “unspeakable tragedy.”
But on Sunday, as Democrats reiterated calls for Congress to enact gun safety legislation and criticized Texas and other states for their lax laws, Abbott, a Republican, declined to decide whether to consider restricting the sale of guns. weapons or enact other reforms.
“People want a quick fix. The long-term fix is address the problem of mental health“, Abbott declared to Fox News, and noted that it would be necessary to focus on the increase in “anger and violence” in the country.
Local authorities praised the speed with which the first police officer acted.
“We owe a debt of gratitude to the people who … acted quickly to neutralize the threat,” said Keith Self, a Republican congressman whose district includes the city of Allen.
A wave of gun violence
Steven Spainhouer, a witness in the mall attack, explained that he tried unsuccessfully to revive several victims, including a woman.
“I took his pulse, pulled his head to the side and he had no face,” Spainhouer told CBS News. She also rescued a child who survived protected under his dead mother. “He was covered in blood from head to toe, like someone had spilled it on him,” she recounted.
Jaynal Pervez, another witness arrived at the mall after his daughter, who was there, called him to tell him what was happening. He told CBS that he had witnessed chaotic scenes in the mall parking lot.
“I saw shoes and mobile phones of people on the street,” he said.
The attack in Allen is the latest in a shocking wave of deadly gun violence to convulse the United States.
Just a week ago, a man shot and killed five neighbors in Cleveland, also in Texas, after one of them asked him to stop firing a rifle in his backyard because his baby was sleeping.
Awash with guns, the country has already suffered 199 mass shootings this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nongovernmental organization that defines a mass shooting as four or more people are injured or killed.
With more firearms than people, the United States has the highest rate of firearm deaths of any developed country: 49,000 in 2021, up from 45,000 the year before.
