President Joe Biden on Sunday accused US Republicans of indifference and denounced the “senseless acts of violence” by a Texas shooter who killed eight people in a shopping mall massacre.
Hundreds of terrified shoppers fled in panic after the gunman opened fire at a Dallas-area outlet mall on Saturday, killing eight people and wounding seven others — three critically — before being shot dead by a police officer who happened to be nearby, authorities said.
The shooting in Allen, Texas, was the latest eruption of gun violence in the US, where there has been an unprecedented number of mass killings this year.
Barely a week earlier, five people were fatally shot in Cleveland, Texas, after a neighbour asked a man to stop firing his weapon while a baby slept, authorities said.
“Such an attack is too shocking to be so familiar,” Mr Biden said in a statement, reacting to the Allen massacre.
“And yet, American communities have suffered roughly 200 mass shootings already this year, according to leading counts.”
Republican Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, who has signed laws easing firearms restrictions following past mass shootings, called the mall attack an “unspeakable tragedy.”
In a White House proclamation, Mr Biden ordered US flags to once again be flown at half staff at federal buildings, military posts and American embassies until sunset on May 11, “as a mark of respect for the victims.”
Mr Biden called on Republican politicians to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and to enact universal background checks, among other measures.
“Republican Members of Congress cannot continue to meet this epidemic with a shrug. Tweeted thoughts and prayers are not enough,” Mr Biden said.
Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said seven people including the shooter died at Allen Premium Outlets, a sprawling outdoor shopping centre. Nine victims were taken to hospital, two of whom died.
Texas has some of the loosest gun laws in the US. Even after a gunman murdered 19 children and two staff at a primary school in Uvalde, the state has failed to change any laws.
Democratic Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez said Mr Abbott and Republicans had unleashed a “nightmare”.
“This is not the Texas miracle that Greg Abbott likes to call it. We're living in a Texas nightmare, and it's a nightmare that they created, it's a chaos that they created,” Mr Gutierrez told CNN.
Chaos at the mall
Maxwell Gum, 16, a pretzel stand employee, described a wave of fleeing shoppers. He and others sheltered in a storage room.
“We started running. Kids were getting trampled,” he said. “My co-worker picked up a four-year-old girl and gave her to her parents.”
Dashcam video that circulated online showed the gunman getting out of a car and shooting at people on the pavement. Multiple shots could be heard as the vehicle recording the video drove off.
An Allen Police officer was in the area on an unrelated call when he heard shots at 3.36pm, the police department said on Facebook.
“The officer engaged the suspect and neutralised the threat. He then called for emergency personnel,” it said.
Mass killings are happening with staggering frequency in the US this year: an average of about one a week, according to a database maintained by AP and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.
Fontayne Payton, 35, was at H&M when he heard the sound of gunshots through his headphones.
“It was so loud, it sounded like it was right outside,” Mr Payton said.
People in the store scattered before employees ushered the group into the fitting rooms and then a lockable back room, he said.
When they were given the all-clear to leave, Mr Payton saw the store had broken windows and a trail of blood to the door. Discarded sandals and bloodied clothes lay nearby.
Once outside, he saw bodies.
“I pray it wasn’t kids, but it looked like kids,” Mr Payton said. The bodies were covered in white towels, slumped over bags on the ground.
“It broke me when I walked out to see that,” he said.
Further away, he saw the body of a heavyset man wearing all black. He assumed it was the shooter, Mr Payton said, because unlike the other bodies it had not been covered up.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
