DALLAS — Violent social media posts by the person accused of carrying out the Allen mall shooting praised the “white race,” admired school shooters and hoped for the elimination of Jewish people.
Quoting from song lyrics and movies, the 33-year-old’s posts could give a glimpse of what was to come.
But the social media account, hosted on a Russian platform, didn’t have much reach or engagement. It resembled a personal diary or blog of an isolated person who distrusted the government and struggled to have relationships with women.
The Allen mall shooter who killed eight people and left seven others injured documented the past three years of his life through writings, photos and videos.
He shared photos of his older handwritten notebooks where he documented his thoughts and anecdotes from daily life. Some covers were labeled “Diary of a Psychopathic Man Child,” “Dead End Kid” and “Murder Garden.”
Neighbors described him as quiet. Former classmates and coworkers noticed hints of violent behavior.
“No matter how well I think I can hide it,” he wrote, “there’s always someone who sees right through me.”
Early termination from the Army
Mauricio Garcia was born in Dallas County in 1989, according to public records, and graduated from Bryan Adams High School in 2008. Some posts suggested he lived in Mexico at some point.
Hunter Beach had an art class with him at Bryan Adams. Beach was shocked when he learned who the suspected Allen mall shooter was. In retrospect, Beach remembered how, in passing, he would talk about a film involving a school shooting and showed interest in Nazism.
“But, I mean, the way I knew him, it’s almost unsurprising in a way,” said Beach, who sometimes worried his classmate would bring a gun to school. “I didn’t really think he ever really had that in him, but if he did do something like that, then it would kind of make sense.”
Garcia joined the Army after high school graduation but was discharged three months later after being deemed unfit for duty, military officials said. U.S. Army spokesperson Heather Hagan said the Army does not specify why soldiers are discharged.
A military official who declined to be named told The Dallas Morning News the suspected Allen shooter was terminated under a regulation that could relate to a variety of physical or mental conditions that could disturb “perception, thinking, emotional control or behavior” and that “the soldier’s ability to perform military duties is significantly impaired.”
An online resume suggested he worked for about a dozen local businesses, including a grocery store, a delivery company and several security firms. He posted a screenshot of a 2021 pay stub from Ben E. Keith Company, a food and beverage distributor, and a picture of his ID badge with the company logo.
He wrote that a coworker, out of the blue, said he looked like the type of person who would walk into a crowd and start shooting. Another said, “if you ever come here and snap, can you spare me?” A third said, “can you warn me when you go postal?”
The Dallas Morning News attempted to reach all the businesses listed. Most did not respond or declined to comment. Ben E. Keith did not return calls and messages. Officials from one security firm listed said they believe a former employee with the same name, who worked for them in 2016, was the accused shooter.
Texas Department of Public Safety officials acknowledged that the suspected gunman once held a security license.
Dallas College confirmed he enrolled in 2019 but never signed up for classes.
A quiet neighborhood in East Dallas
Neighbors say they would see Garcia often at the East Dallas house where his mother lives.
Gilda Bailey, who lives a few doors down, said nothing about him stuck out.
“Never saw his tattoos, never saw a bumper sticker or anything that would be a warning sign,” she recalled. “It’s like he lived a double life.”
No one at the family’s home answered the door or returned multiple messages and phone calls from The News.
The Casa View neighborhood has mostly brick single-family homes and is quiet and peaceful. It’s an ethnically and racially diverse part of East Dallas, where about 47% of adults speak only Spanish at home.
A Black Lives Matter sign used to have a place in Bailey’s yard. She would have taken it down earlier if she had any suspicions, she noted.
“I just wouldn’t have done anything to trigger him,” she said.
Louis Moore, another neighbor who said he has lived in the neighborhood for more than 13 years, said the shooter’s family had “always been there.”
“Like all of us, that family tried to give a good life to their children,” Moore said.
The family was cordial, said Tisha Williams, whose family has lived in the area for more than 60 years.
“I would see the boy all the time, and he was very friendly,” she said. “He would say hello warmly, but we never had a close relationship with them.”
The shooter was recently living at a Dallas budget hotel, where police executed a search warrant the day of the shooting.
Swastika, Nazi police and Black panther tattoos
Amidst references to the rock band Kenotia and the television show “Two Weeks to Live,” the gunman posted photos of multiple tattoos. For some, he posted the initial design ideas and the subsequent results.
In April, he shared pictures of four new tattoos: a swastika on his chest; the insignia of the Nazi SS police force on his upper arm; the word “Dallas” and a Fort Worth city logo on his rib cage.
Seemingly older tattoos include one on his stomach and rib cage — a black panther, which he later wrote was an “attempt at culturally appropriating the panther from the Black Panther party.” Also seen among his online photos was a City of Dallas logo tattooed on his hand, which was also visible in photos and videos circulating on social media showing the downed gunman in Allen.
On his lower arm, the gunman had a “Punisher” skull tattoo. The skull was originally a Marvel character but has been adopted by military groups in the United States. A caption with a photo of that tattoo read, “paying homage to all my battle buddies in Echo company 119,” potentially referring to the place where he started his Army training.
“Deus Vult” was tattooed on both of his wrists. The Latin term refers to the Crusades and has recently been adopted by white supremacist groups in the United States.
On his left shoulder and upper arm, “10/6″ was tattooed in large black ink. It is unclear what that date refers to; however, in police code, that means “busy” or “on-call.” On his right shoulder, he had the shape of the state with “Texas” spelled out across it.
A Nazi doctor known as “angel of death”
Despite having brown skin, a Hispanic last name and parents who neighbors said don’t speak much English, the gunman described himself as white.
“We must make America white again,” he wrote, along with “long live the white race.”
He used the word “supreme” to describe his “whiteness.”
Experts say people of any race or ethnicity can identify with white supremacist ideology.
The gunman posted a meme centering the words “Latino children” leading them into one of two options: “act Black” or “become white supremacist.” In the caption, he wrote “I think I’ll take my chances with the white supremacist.”
The social media account was filled with racially motivated hatred. He criticized and stereotyped many races, ethnicities and religions while using racial slurs to refer to those of Black, Indian and Arab descent.
“Diversity is our international embarrassment,” he wrote.
Most of the hate-filled posts targeted Jewish people.
He posted a photo of Josef Mengele, a Nazi doctor known for conducting inhumane experiments on Jewish people during the Holocaust. Mongele’s nickname was “angel of death.” The caption to Mengele’s photo read, “My hero.”
He shared a screenshot of a Tweet from a “Stop Antisemitism” account where they called attention to a Mexican university assignment where a student dressed up as Adolf Hitler in order to sell burgers. He wrote, “Clever dude.”
In a Feb. 19 post, he wrote about a high school chemistry teacher who once told him it was tragic that he was a Hitler fan.
“He was one of history’s most powerful men. What’s not to like?” he wrote.
Mass shootings as ‘sport’ or ‘comedy’
The gunman studied mass shootings in the United States.
He wrote that he downloaded the “Buffalo video,” likely referring to the livestream made by the man who entered a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y., in 2022 and killed 10 people.
He also heaped praise over April’s school shooting in Nashville in which six people were killed, including three children.
“Every school shooting, to me, is the perfect time to be a completely horrible person and see this event like a sport or a comedy,” he wrote.
Intentional choices in preparation for Allen
The gunman did not share an explicit plan of the shooting. But he posted photos of the mall and articles of clothing that seemed to be the ones he wore on the day.
His page included pictures of AR-15 style firearms, handguns, knives, rounds and magazines as well as receipts for purchases of tactical gear and photos of his “splatter target,” a piece of cardboard used for shooting practice.
On April 15, he posted multiple photos of the Allen mall and a screenshot of Google Maps showing the Allen Premium Outlets’ popular times. The app indicated Saturdays right before 3 p.m. “as busiest as it gets.”
On April 21, he posted photos of a black jacket with the logo of a band named “Suicidal Tendencies.” The caption read “my favorite jacket.” He also posted photos of the Converse shoes believed to be the ones he wore on the day. “My favorite pumped up kicks,” he wrote.
He shared a picture of the vest believed to be the one he wore that contained three patches: the “Punisher” skull, the “Punisher” skull on top of a Texas flag and the acronym RWDS, which refers to “right wing death squad.” RWDS is a term used by extremists who sometimes use violence to target their perceived enemies.
At the Allen mall, the shooter fired 42 rounds using a .223-caliber AR-15 rifle manufactured by F.N. MFG In, according to Allen police.
Garcia gunman did not have a criminal record and purchased his guns legally, according to officials.
After the shooting, police found five more weapons in his car.
Two weeks before the May 6 shooting, a rambling social media post read, “I think it was always going to turn out this way. No matter what I did.”
Dallas Morning News staff writers Aria Jones, Kevin Krause, Valeria Olivares, Sue Ambrose and Imelda Garcia contributed reporting. Staff researcher Jennifer Brancato contributed research.
