Allen City Council member Dave Shafer recently tweeted that he is not certain that the Allen Premium Outlet mall mass shooter—who the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has confirmed had Nazi symbols tattooed on his body and expressed “neo-Nazi ideation”—held Nazi views.
“Oh I definitely condemn the shooter, and any belief he had,” Shafer wrote in a post on Twitter. “However, based on his other supposed tattoos and information reported in the press, I cannot say for certain he held Nazi views.” He added that “I of course condemn any race-based ideology, including Nazism.”
Shafer is only the second Allen-area politician and the first Republican to openly condemn Nazism in the wake of a mass killing perpetrated by Maurcicio Garcia, a 33-year-old man with a swastika tattoo on his chest who had included a Nazi symbol in his signature on government documents and a security guard application. Shafer is also the first to contradict statements made by the state law enforcement agency that is leading the investigation into the shooting.
