The Texas Department of Public Safety said Tuesday that the guns used in the mass shooting in Allen, Texas, were obtained legally.
Authorities are still trying to determine the motive behind the attack.
The man who committed the massacre had eight guns on him, five in his vehicle and three on his person, Hank Sibley, regional director for the Texas DPS, told reporters, according to CNN.
“The big question that we’re dealing with right now is what’s his motive, why did he do this?” Sibley said via CNN. “Well, the big question is, we don’t know. That’s what the investigation is trying to find out.”
Mauricio Garcia, 33, reportedly started firing an AR-15 in the parking lot of the Allen Premium Outlets, killing eight people and injuring seven before a police officer who happened to be on another call nearby killed him, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Two families lost multiple loved ones: one, parents and a 3-year-old son, and the other, a pair of sisters aged 8 and 11.
Although the shooter’s motive has not been determined, there are some hints that it may involve some kind of extremism, judging by evidence from social media, CNN reported.
Police reportedly told CNN that Garcia’s body was adorned by insignia commonly associated with extremism.
Police believe that an account on the Russian-social media site Odnoklassniki that made postings about the mall belonged to Garcia, according to CNN. In the weeks before the shooting, the user for the account posted pictures of his guns and images of the mall, including screenshots from Google Maps that indicated when the mall would be the busiest. The user also posted writings in support of Nazi ideology.
The victims have been identified as Christian LaCour, Aishwarya Thatikonda, Daniela and Sofia Mendoza, Kyu, Cindy, and James Cho, and Elio Cumana-Rivas, according to WFAA.
