Tipsheet

Texas Mall Shooter Suffered From One Affliction That Is All Too Common With Mass Killers

Mauricio Garcia, 33, killed eight people on Saturday in Allen, Texas. The graphic footage shows Garcia opening fire on bystanders at the Allen Premium Outlets. As we’ve said already, the footage is too graphic to share. The media has been pushing this nonwhite, white supremacist narrative that’s rightfully been the source of mockery. Comedian Dave Chappelle mocked such a social invention years ago on his Comedy Central show in 2003, with the character of Clayton Bigsby—a black, white supremacist who was blind. 

Garcia supposedly was a neo-Nazi sympathizer, which raised some eyebrows since he’s not white. Granted, *he* could have thought those things, but there’s no way hardcore Nazis would have accepted him for obvious reasons, which brings us back to the real issue: mental illness. Of course, NBC News harped on his social media postings which were reportedly littered with racist and antisemitic rantings, but buried in the piece is the mental health aspect that is all too common with mass shooters. Even left-wing outlets, like Mother Jones, acknowledged that it’s a common thread with these types of heinous crimes (via NBC News) [emphasis mine]: 

Extremist beliefs were shared on a social media page appearing to belong to the gunman who killed eight people at a Dallas-area outlet mall, with rants against Jews, women and racial minorities posted on the account since September. 

Mauricio Garcia, 33, maintained a profile on the Russian social networking platform OK.RU., which included posts referencing extremist online forums such as 4chan and content from white nationalists, including Nick Fuentes, an antisemitic white nationalist provocateur. 

In the weeks before the attack, Garcia posted more than 2 dozen photos of the Allen Premium Outlets mall, where the mass shooting occurred Saturday afternoon, and surrounding areas, including several screenshots of Google location information, seemingly monitoring the mall at its busiest times. 

Many of Garcia’s posts referenced his mental health. In his final post, he lamented what his family might say and wrote that no psychologist would have been able to fix him. He wrote that he had expressed similar thoughts to his commanding officer. 

He also posted photos of a flak vest emblazoned with patches, including one with the acronym for "Right Wing Death Squad," a popular meme among far-right extremist groups. Another post included a series of shirtless pictures with visible white power tattoos, including SS Lightning Bolts and a swastika. 

[…] 

Garcia joined the Army in June 2008 but was kicked out after three months for a physical or mental condition. He did not complete basic training, nor was he ever deployed or received any awards, said Heather Hagan, a U.S. Army Public Affairs spokeswoman. 

So, he was dismissed from the military over mental health concerns. It’s a chopped salad of narrative manufacturing, but again, Garcia appears to be a mentally disturbed individual who committed a mass killing. The neo-Nazi postings are irrelevant regarding how a person this disturbed could purchase weapons. It’s a slippery slope. Garcia’s rants and heinous views do not prohibit him from owning firearms. If he had a violent episode, like an assault, which wasn’t properly documented, this shooting would become more tragic because it would have been preventable. The Sutherland Springs shooting is a prime example, where a veteran acquired an AR-15 rifle because the US Air Force did not file the paperwork about the perpetrator’s stint in jail for domestic abuse for which he served a year. 

More questions linger. We’ll be here to keep you updated.