A gunman shot multiple people at an outlet mall in the Dallas suburb of Allen, Texas, on Saturday, killing an unknown number and sending hundreds of shoppers fleeing in panic in the latest gun violence to strike the country, officials said.
Authorities did not immediately provide details about the victims, but witnesses reported seeing children among them. Some said they also saw what appeared to be a police officer and a mall security guard unconscious on the ground.
Maxwell Gum, a 16-year-old shift leader at Wetzel's Pretzels, was on his lunch break when a family with limited English ran into the back of his store, urgently telling him, "Gun! Shoot!" as the sound of gunfire could be heard in the background. Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said seven people including the shooter died at the scene. Nine victims were taken to area hospitals, but two of them died.
"The officer engaged the suspect and neutralized the threat. He then called for emergency personnel," the agency wrote in the Facebook post. Fontayne Payton, 35, was at H&M when he heard the sound of gunshots through the headphones he was wearing.People in the store scattered before employees ushered the group into the fitting rooms and then a lockable back room, he said. When they were given the all-clear to leave, Payton saw the store had broken windows and a trail of blood to the door. Discarded sandals and bloodied clothes were laying nearby."I pray it wasn't kids, but it looked like kids," he said.
"I have seen his gun lying right next to him and a guy who is like passing out right next to him," Mouli said."We had just gotten in, just a couple minutes earlier, and we just heard a lot of loud popping," Mary Ann Greene told The Associated Press.
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