The gunman in the Allen Premium Outlets massacre appeared to leave a wide-ranging online presence that espoused an obsession with violence and extremist ideology, including admiration for Adolf Hitler and misogynistic views, according to a social media profile reviewed by The Dallas Morning News.
The social media profile included several posts and memes showing admiration for neo-Nazis, along with sympathy for a violently misogynistic movement.
The gunman killed eight people and injured seven others on Saturday. He was shot and killed by a police officer.
The profile did not include any document that could be described as a manifesto. But “the thing that stuck out to me was his obsession with violence,” said Alex Fairfield, an investigative researcher with the Anti-Defamation League, who also reviewed the profile.
“That seemed to be the big driver behind everything else. Obviously, he was filled with hate — anti-semitism, misogyny, anti-LGBTQ comments — but it didn’t seem like there was an overarching ideology.”
The person on the social media account posted scores of handwritten diary pages spanning years, portions of which targeted Asian men and women. The city of Allen has a sizable Asian population — 19% — and the mall is a popular shopping destination for Asian American families. At least four of the eight people killed on Saturday were of Asian descent; three were Korean, and one was Indian.
The person who posted on the social media account appeared to stake out the shopping mall where the shooting took place. On April 15, he posted four pictures from the mall. He also posted a screenshot of a webpage showing how the mall is popular on Saturdays between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. The shooting took place Saturday at around 3:30 p.m.
Authorities have not publicly described a potential motive for the massacre. Pictures of the letters were posted April 17, but it’s not clear when they were all written.
The presence of what appears to be the shooter’s profile was first reported by The New York Times and further described by the investigative journalism group Bellingcat. Several posts and pictures share the same characteristics of what little is publicly known about the shooter, Mauricio Garcia, 33.
The profile shows pictures of the same left-hand tattoo that is visible on the shooter’s body in video taken shortly after he was killed by an Allen police officer. The tattoo resembles the logo for the City of Dallas. A picture of a traffic citation showed the gunman’s full name and described his car as a gray Dodge Charger – the same make and model the gunman was seen driving in videos posted to social media.
One picture shows a chest-mounted ammunition pouch that appears identical to the one seen in video of the shooter’s body.
The profile also includes pictures of a vest with three patches. Two of them appear to be the logo belonging to the Marvel Comics vigilante The Punisher, whose logo has been co-opted by some extremist groups.
The third patch contains the acronym “RWDS,” which stands for “Right Wing Death Squad,” another slogan used by extremist groups. Law enforcement sources told the Associated Press that the “RWDS” patch was found on Garcia’s body.
The “RWDS” acronym is primarily associated with the Proud Boys, a far-right group known for their misogynistic views and participation in street brawls against political enemies, said Lindsay Schubiner, program director at the Western States Center, who studies white nationalism.
The phrase, often affiliated with the murderous regime of Augusto Pinochet in Chile, became popular with the Proud Boys and other extremist groups over the last five or six years, Schubiner said.
“That phrase is a glorification of political violence,” Schubiner said. “Violence against people of color and the LGBTQ community and anyone else they see as political opponents.”
The handwritten letter includes antisemitic references to Jewish billionaire philanthropist George Soros and a “New World Order.”
The person who posted on the social media account also frequently described loathing his Hispanic ethnicity. The person said he became “a full-blown white supremacist” after joining the Army and meeting a white nationalist.
Extremist groups, including white nationalist groups, are recruiting people of color, seeking to bolster membership and present themselves as more open and progressive than they actually are, said Schubiner.
“Authoritarianism exists in a lot of different places and forms, of course people of color can be attracted to it,” she said.
“You can look at the support of [former Brazilian President Jair] Bolsonaro,” Schubiner said. “[Former President Donald] Trump certainly has support from some people of color. This isn’t news to white nationalists and other bigoted groups, some of which have made a strategic decision to reach out to more people of color in recent years.”
The last post on what appears to be the shooter’s account — posted the day of the massacre — is a rambling message that, among other things, describes a wish to be cremated.
Extremist groups in North Texas
Garcia has not been linked as a member of any specific extremist group. But the North Texas area has seen an uptick in violence in recent years from domestic extremists, including the Boogaloo Boys and armed border militias, prompting the Dallas FBI to warn about the dangers of local terrorism.
The Southern Poverty Law Center said it tracked 52 hate groups in Texas in 2021, many of them espousing neo-Nazi beliefs. The center’s 2021 report on hate and extremism ranked Texas third in the nation for the number of such groups, behind California and Florida.
Hate groups with a statewide presence and members from North Texas include Iron Youth, a neo-Nazi organization, and Patriot Front, a white nationalist group, according to the center.
Members of the AtomWaffen Division, a neo-Nazi hate group, also have been arrested in North Texas on federal charges.
Patrick Crusius, the man who killed 23 people at an El Paso Walmart in 2019, is from Allen.
Crusius, 24, had posted an online screed that warned of a “Hispanic invasion” of Texas prior to the attack. He was charged with 23 counts of hate crime resulting in death, 23 counts of use of a firearm to commit murder in a crime of violence, 22 counts of hate crime in an attempt to kill, and 22 counts of use of a firearm during a crime of violence.
He pleaded guilty in February to federal hate crimes and firearms charges and faces up to life in prison. The Aug. 3, 2019, mass shooting was the deadliest attack targeting Hispanic people in the nation’s history.
‘Self-radicalizing’
Ziv Cohen, a psychiatry professor at Cornell University, said people are finding extremist material online that appeals to them and saturating themselves with it.
“Unfortunately, we do live in a world where a lot of people are self-radicalizing,” he said. And people with mental health problems may find it difficult to separate reality from fantasy, said Cohen, who served as a staff psychiatrist in the military.
Those who are particularly susceptible to such extremist literature tend to have few ties to a community or stable relationships that could help them avert a downward spiral, he said. And conspiracy theories, he said, fulfill a desire for knowledge. People want to know how the world works, but the explanations can be complicated and overwhelming.
“They [conspiracies] explain the world in very simple terms,” Cohen said.
For those who are marginalized in society, such radical ideas also make them feel connected to others, even if it’s just online, he said.
Emerging threat
The Texas Department of Public Safety’s 2020 Domestic Terrorism Threat Assessment said incels are an emerging threat because adherents have demonstrated their capacity for violent acts and threats.
Incel, which stands for “involuntary celibate,” is a term often used by men who want to have sex with women but are unable to find a romantic partner.
“What begins as a personal grievance due to perceived rejection by women may morph into allegiance to, and attempts to further, an Incel Rebellion. The result has thrust the Incel movement into the realm of domestic terrorism,” the report said.
The DPS report said the recent mass terror attacks by incels, as well as their violent online rhetoric, indicate they could soon match or exceed the lethality of other domestic terror groups and movements.
Incels blame women and society for their failed attempts at intimate relationships, the report said, leading many to support violence.
The DPS report said a shooter who attacked the federal courthouse in downtown Dallas in June 2019 had posted incel-related content online. Brian Isaack Clyde, armed with an assault rifle and wearing body armor, opened fire on the Earle Cabell Federal Building before he was shot and killed by police.
