Authorities are working this week to establish a motive and understand the mental state of Mauricio Garcia, the deceased suspect accused of killing eight people at a shopping mall in the U.S. state of Texas on Saturday, May 6, with his AR-15 style assault rifle.  

Meanwhile, the United States continues to grieve for another set of innocent victims lost to gun violence.The 33-year-old suspect is reported to have left behind a trove of social media posts that link him online to white supremacist and neo-nazi ideology. 

Garcia was wearing a patch fastened to his tactical gear that read “RWDS”, an acronym for “Right Wing Death Squad,” popular among right-wing extremist groups.Right wing extremism is considered to be a “product of inherently violent ideology and aesthetics, not only idealizing and normalizing violent behavior, but also attracting apolitical people who are drawn towards violence” according to scholars at the University of Oslo’s Center for Research on Extremism.

Citing law enforcement sources, the New York Times reported that Garcia was suspected to be behind several social media posts on a Russian platform that praised Adolf Hitler.  In the posts the author claimed to be of Hispanic heritage.  Garcia also reportedly served in the U.S. Army in 2008 but was “removed due to mental health concerns,” ABC30 reported citing law enforcement sources.

Half of Garcia’s victims were reportedly Asian American.  

They have been identified as  James Cho, 3, Sofia Mendoza, 8; Daniela Mendoza, 11; Christian LaCour, 23; Aishwarya Thatikonda, 26; Elio Cumana-Rivas, 32; Cindy Cho, 35; and Kyu Cho, 37. 

A six year old boy, among the ten others recovering at local hospitals for injuries sustained in the shooting, was left orphaned by the massacre of his family. 

U.S. President Biden has again called  for Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines in the country.  Federal assault weapon legislation has continuously been blocked by Republican and far right-wing politicians.  

Those against banning assault weapons in the United States argue that it is not the assault weapons behind mass shootings, like the 202 that have already happened in the country this year, according to Gun Violence Archive, but mentally ill people.

On Monday in Texas the House of Representatives advanced a bill to raise the minimum age for buying some kinds of semi-automatic rifles from age 18 to age 21 in the state.

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