A hero cop who took down the Texas mall shooter made a frantic call for backup just moments before he shot dead the AR-15-armed gunman who killed eight people.
Children were among those killed during the bloodbath outside H&M in Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, Texas at 3.36pm on Saturday.
The shooter, in his 30s, was killed by an unnamed cop – who was on the scene for an unrelated call but rushed over when he heard the gunshots outside the H&M.
New audio footage now reveals how the officer made a frantic phone call begging for his colleagues to join him on the scene, radioing: ‘I need everybody I got.’
He bravely ran towards the active shooter – who was armed with 60 rounds and had shot over a dozen people by this point – and killed him.
Around two minutes after first calling for backup, the cop said: ‘I got him down.’ Minutes later, another voice is heard on the radio saying: ‘We got victims. I need an ambulance.’
The FBI and police have raided the dead suspect’s home in Dallas following the civilian massacre. Neighbors say they always say him wearing a security guard-type uniform, but he was ‘very quiet’ and had ‘very unusual behavior.’
Cops requested a translator when speaking to the suspect’s family. His gray Dodge Charger, which was seen at the scene, was often parked outside the home.
Hundreds of shoppers were filed away from the H&M location after the gunman opened fire near the store. He was eventually killed by a heroic cop – however the gunman had already killed eight people
The shooting happened at the Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, a small suburb north of Dallas, and saw at least eight people killed
A stampede of hundreds of shoppers were seen racing out of the complex while gunfire rained out – as security and police attempted to shepherd them to safety.
People in the store were frantically ushered into lockable rooms, and when they eventually got the all-clear to come out, they saw the broken windows, trails of blood by the door, and bloodied bodies covered in sheets.
Dashcam video showed the gunman getting out of a car and shooting at people on the sidewalk on Saturday afternoon. More than three dozen shots could be heard as the vehicle that was recording the video drove off.
The gunman was using an AR-15-style gun during the mass shooting, and was dressed in full tactical SWAT gear.
Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd confirmed that seven people died at the scene, including the gunman, and then a further two victims died in hospital.
Three of the wounded were in critical condition in the evening, and four were stable, Boyd said in an update on Saturday night.
A Dallas-area medical group said it was treating victims as young as five-years-old.
Investigators have confirmed that they believe the shooter was working alone, but they have not yet released any motive for the devastating killings.
Fontayne Payton, 35, was at H&M when he heard the sound of gunshots through his headphones. He said: ‘It was so loud, it sounded like it was right outside.
‘I pray it wasn’t kids, but it looked like kids,’ he said.
The bodies were covered in white towels, slumped over bags on the ground. ‘It broke me when I walked out to see that.’
Payton then saw the body of the dead shooter – which was the only one not covered, he recalled.
In a disturbing snippet, the gunman is seen laying dead outside another Allen store on a few dozen feet from the H&M. He is seen dressed in SWAT gear, with a semi-automatic rile at his side
Images show police and FBI at the house of the dead suspect who opened fire at the mall
Cops and FBI agents have raided the home. Neighbors say the suspect wore hoodies often and kept himself to himself
Other footage and snaps taken at the scene, meanwhile, help piece together what exactly transpired at the outdoor mall – with the first shots being fired outside the H&M, before the gunman was killed by the unnamed Allen officer at a burger shop a few stores away
A law enforcement officer carries a rifle as people are evacuated from the shopping center
Another witness, Kimberly Blakey, said she and her daughter, 14, were among the crowd of people rushing to flee the parking lot after the gunfire started.
She said the raining bullets were ‘non-stop.’ Her car got shot at during the ordeal as she tried to escape.
Blakey told CNN: ‘I told my daughter to get down. I could hear her start praying.’
Another witness, Sheliza Ramlall, who was in the Nike store when the violence broke out, said: ‘I had the most horrifying experience earlier. I was standing in line at the Nike store when all of a sudden people started to scream and run.
‘The people in the doorway saw the man with the gun outside and raised the alarm. All of us in line dropped to the floor and started to crawl looking for a hiding place while falling over each other.
‘I crawled behind the counter. At that moment, I realized that we were right in plain sight and and figured that I needed to get away from the front.
‘As I looked to the back of the store, I heard someone saying ‘get to the back, get to the back’ and everyone started running at that point. An employee opened the back door and let us out. We are standing by the roadside shaken, crying, and hugging each other.
‘Not knowing where the gunman was or what was happening on the other side was terrifying but I wanted to get out of there so I left the crowd and started to flag the cars down to give me a lift.
‘An elderly woman stopped and I hopped in a panic. She started to tell me about the gunshots she heard and drove me to my car. I raced out of there with an elevated heartbeat.
‘I am grateful for our brave first responders who stopped the shooter and helped the people to safety.’
Glass is seen shattered across the sidewalk in front of one of the fashion stores in Allen, where the mass shooting took place just after 3pm on Saturday, May 6
Mayor Ken Fulk said in a statement on Saturday night: ‘Today is a tragic day for the City of Allen, our citizens, our friends and visitors who were at the Allen Premium Outlets. We know you are grieving, we are grieving.
‘Allen is a proud and safe city which makes today’s senseless act of violence even more shocking. However, I want to commend our police and fire departments for their quick response.
‘Their thorough training not to hesitate to move toward the threat likely saved more lives today. We also want to thank all of our surrounding municipalities and law enforcement agencies for offering their assistance at the scene.
‘This collective effort is what makes our North Texas communities united.’
Texas Governor Greg Abbott described the shooting as an ‘unspeakable tragedy.’
Witnesses have recalled the horrific moments they realized they were in the midst of a mass shooting – with one man, Steven Spainhouer, saying he rushed to desperately save a child who had been shot.
His own son was working at the H&M store when shots were fired.
Spainhouer told CBS News: ‘I never imagined in 100 years I would be thrust into the position of being the first first responder on the site to take care of people.
‘The first girl I walked up to was crouched down covering her head in the bushes, so I felt for a pulse, pulled her head to the side and she had no face.’
He said she was already beyond saving.
Still set on saving the mess of victims, Spainhouer recalled how he then found another child, who survived the barrage of bullets by being covered by his protective mother, who he said was among eight to die by the gunman.
Spainhouer added: ‘When I rolled the mother over, he came out.
‘I asked him if he was OK and he said, ‘My mom is hurt, my mom is hurt.’
‘Rather than traumatize him any more, I pulled him around the corner sat him down and he was covered from head to toe. [It was] like somebody poured blood on him.’
Allen resident Steven Spanhouer, recalled being one of the first people on the scene – after the now-deceased gunman opened fire outside a clothing store where his son worked
The suspect’s identity has not been released, nor has a prospective motive for the killings
Other aerial shooting shows the mass evacuation that transpired as cops reportedly swept each store to assess their safety, with hundreds of shoppers filed away from the H&M location where the bodies were seen
In recent years, Texas has witnessed some of the most gruesome and deadly mass shootings in America.
Many believe it’s partly because of the state’s loosened gun laws which have come into effect in the past few years.
In September 2021, a ‘constitutional carry’ law came into effect, allowing most Texas who legally own a firearm to carry it openly in public without obtaining a permit or training.
At the time, Gov. Greg Abbott declared that the law ‘instilled freedom in the Lone Star State.’
Just eight months after the pro-gun law was passed, Uvalde, Texas experienced one of the bloodiest school shootings in US history at Robb Elementary School. A total of 19 children were killed, along with two teachers, by gunman Salvador Ramos.
The gunman, 18, wrote ‘LOL,’ an acronym for ‘laugh out loud,’ on a whiteboard using the blood of his innocent victims.
For years in Texas, Republicans have waved aside efforts to tighten gun laws after mass shootings, and even expanded gun rights after the 2019 attack on a Walmart in El Paso.