ALLEN — A Dallas artist is using his talents to memorialize the victims of the Allen shooting in the community.
Dallas artist Roberto Marquez has created artwork to honor those killed in the Allen outlet shooting.
On May 6, an armed former security guard opened fire on unsuspecting shoppers at Allen Premium Outlets. The shooting resulted in the deaths of eight people and multiple injuries.
Marquez has been outside the mall since May 9 creating pieces of art and crosses as a memorial for those who were killed. Marquez painted three murals and eight large black crosses, one for each shooting victim.
One of the murals was inspired by the officer responsible for neutralizing the shooter. Another is designed to promote community engagement; it will allow citizens to provide their own messages.
Marquez told The Dallas Express that he had begun his work as a full-time artist in 2018 and wanted to illustrate “a story” with his work. He said that the creation of these murals was one of the ways he had chosen to support those in mourning and bring an end to events like that of May 6.
Marquez said he had lost count of the number of crosses he had created for these types of losses. He hopes he will not have to create any more.
“It’s a good message to the world that we are united, and we are fighting to get away from these things from happening so often,” said Marquez. “I have hopes that these things will decline. We don’t want to have more killings.”
Marquez told The Dallas Express that he made art pieces for other shootings, such as the Uvalde shooting that occurred nearly one year ago. But this latest memorial was different in terms of community response and engagement.
“[Previously, when I built a memorial,] sometimes no people showed up, but this was an exception,” said Marquez. “I can now see that people are more worried and more united, so hopefully, in the near future, we’ll have these types of situations declining dramatically.”
“As a community, not only as an artist, I think we need to have a moment of consciousness,” said Marquez.
