At least nine people were shot Saturday afternoon at Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, Texas, a suburb of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, authorities said. The suspected shooter is dead, officials said.
Republican Congressman Keith Self said in a statement that “there are multiple casualties,” but the death has not yet been confirmed by law enforcement.
At a press conference Saturday night, Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey said an officer was on an unrelated call at about 3:36 a.m. local time when he heard gunshots, responded and “neutralized” the shooting suspect.
“He heard the gunshots, went to the gunfire, engaged the suspect and neutralized the suspect,” Harvey said.
LM Otero/AP
The Collin County Sheriff’s Office also confirmed the incident CBS Texas The scene was secured and the gunman was dead.
Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said the nine injured were taken by paramedics to local hospitals. He did not confirm their terms.
“Others may have been transported in private vehicles, but those are the ones we know of,” Boyd said.
Janet St. James, a spokeswoman for Medical City Health Care, told CBS News that its trauma facilities received eight gunshot victims ranging in age from 5 to 61. He did not even confirm their terms.
Videos posted on social media show gunshots and panic among people in shopping malls.
“We were at Johnson & Murphy, shopping for shoes, and we heard some pops go off, like 10,” one person told CBS Texas. “And I look at the customer next to me, and I go, ‘Was that a gunshot?’ And we were all like, ‘No, we don’t think so.’ We ran forward when we heard 20 more pops. And right next to it was a guy, like Francesca, in a fully clothed assault rifle, shooting at people.”
“We saw bodies going down,” said one woman.
In a statement about the incident, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he “offered the full support of the State of Texas to local officials to ensure that all necessary assistance and resources, including DPS officers, Texas Rangers and investigative resources, are quickly deployed.”
Here’s the scene at #AllenPremiumOutlets where there’s a report of an active shooter. There is a huge police presence here. Police are asking people to stay away from the area. I just spoke to a concerned father whose daughter is on lockdown at a store. More at 5pm… pic.twitter.com/KhQymSEWk9
— Olivia Leach (@OliviaLeachNews) May 6, 2023