Law enforcement officials have released the bodycam footage of an officer gunning down a shooter who killed eight people, including three children, at a Dallas-area shopping mall.
The edited five-minute video shows the final moments of the 33-year-old gunman Mauricio Garcia, after he rained bullets from an AR-15-style rifle at the Allen Premium Outlets on 6 May.
The footage from the body camera worn by an Allen cop shows the officer telling two children outside the mall to wear their seatbelts and be good.
Seconds later, the sound of rapid gunfire erupts from the mall. The children and a woman, whose face have been blurred, run away as the officer radios in the report, grabs his rifle from his car and dashes toward the gunfire.
As he runs, the panting officer shouts at people to move and get out. He then tells the dispatcher, “I believe we've got a mass shooter” and shouts at the gunman to drop his weapon.
"I'm passing injured (people)," he adds.
The officer continues to run through the outside galleries of the outlet. About four minutes into the video, the officer opens fire with at least a half-dozen shots.
An instant later, the officer shouts: "Drop the gun!" and then reports: "I've got him down!"
Another officer then confirms the gunman is dead.
"This video shows how quickly a routine interaction with the public turned into a life-and-death situation," Allen Police chief Brian Harvey shared in a news release.
"The officer recognised the danger, ran toward the gunfire and neutralized the threat – and for his actions, the Allen community is forever grateful."
The video was released a day after a grand jury cleared the officer of wrongdoing, indicating that “the use of force was justified under Texas law".
Three members of a Korean American family - Kyu Song Cho, Cindy Cho, and their 3-year-old son, James Cho, were killed by the mass shooter last month.
Also killed were Aishwarya Thatikonda, 27, sisters Daniela Mendoza, 11, and Sofia Mendoza, 8; security guard Christian LaCour, 20; and Elio Cumana-Rivas, 32.
Hundreds of shoppers fled from Allen Premium Outlets, a large outdoor shopping centre, after gunfire erupted at about 3.30pm local time.
The gunman drove to the mall with several weapons and opened fire as soon as he stepped out of his vehicle, police said, without revealing a motive for the attack.
Garcia used one of eight legally purchased guns he had brought to the mall, authorities said.
The killer had no criminal record, but investigators are looking into his possible neo-Nazi and white supremacist beliefs.
Garcia was wearing black body armour and a patch on his chest that suggested he may have harboured extremist ideologies, law enforcement sources told The Washington Post.
The gunman reportedly left a long trail of online posts describing his white supremacist and misogynistic views. He described mass shootings as sport and posted photos showing his large Nazi tattoos and a favorite passage in the “Hunger Games” books marked with a swastika drawn in green highlighter.
