Mauricio Garcia, the suspect accused of fatally shooting eight people and wounding others at Allen Premium Outlets, a mall outside Dallas, Texas, had a brief three-month stint in the U.S. Army, Fox News has learned.
"Mauricio Garcia entered the regular Army in June 2008; he was terminated three months later without completing initial entry training," Heather J. Hagan, U.S. Army Public Affairs spokesperson, said in a statement to Fox News.
"He was not awarded a military occupational specialty. He had no deployments or awards. We do not provide characterization of discharge for any soldier," Hagan added.
DALLAS MALL SHOOTING SUSPECT MAURICIO GARCIA LEFT ODD VOICEMAIL ABOUT MONEY
An Army official also told Fox News that Garcia was separated under the 2005 edition of Army Regulation 635-200, paragraph 5–17, "Other designated physical or mental conditions."
Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey declined Sunday evening to answer questions from the AP and other outlets on Garcia's ideology, saying of the investigation, "We actually don’t have a lot." Questioned on Fox News Monday on reports that Garcia might have aligned himself with a white supremacist ideology, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also avoided going into detail at this stage as investigators are combing through the accused gunman's background.
"People should not jump to conclusions because there's a lot of conflicting information about him," Abbott said. "Let the investigators work through the guy's background, and I think once you see more information about the guy's background, it will reveal a little bit more about why this happened."
DALLAS MALL SHOOTER: WHO IS MAURICIO GARCIA?
As of Sunday morning, the Allen Police Department said Medical City McKinney was treating four patients, one in fair condition and three in critical condition. One patient was transferred to Medical City Plano, a Level I Trauma Center, and is currently listed in fair condition. One patient was transferred to Medical City Children’s Hospital and is in fair condition. Another patient was treated at a different area hospital, police said.
The Texas Department of Public Safety identified Garcia as suspected of killing eight people at a Texas outlet mall Sunday, a day after the attack turned an afternoon of shopping into a massacre. Garcia was fatally shot Saturday by a police officer who happened to be near the suburban Dallas mall.
A law enforcement official told the Associated Press that investigators have been searching a Dallas motel near an interstate where Garcia had been staying. The official said police also found multiple weapons at the scene after Garcia was killed, including an AR-15-style rifle and a handgun.
Two law enforcement officials told the AP that investigators also searched a Dallas home connected to the suspect. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss details of an ongoing investigation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
