Several people died under fire from a gunman on Saturday, May 6, in a shopping center in the Dallas area, in the US state of Texas. The gunman himself was shot, authorities said.

"(We) found seven individuals who died at the scene. We transported nine individuals to the hospital (...) Of those we transported, two have since died," said Jonathan Boyd, fire chief of Allen, the northeastern Texas town where the shooting took place.

The shooting caused scenes of panic at Allen Premium Outlets, a sprawling shopping mall in the city of Allen, some 40 kilometers north of Dallas, filled with many shoppers who came to shop there for the weekend.

An off-duty police officer was in the mall for another case when shots rang out at around 03:30 a.m. Paris time (20:30 GMT), local police chief Brian Harvey said.

'Unspeakable tragedy'

The officer "heard gunshots, went (to the scene) gunshots, faced the suspect and neutralized" the individual, the local police chief said. In the aftermath, he called for help.

The identity of the shooter was not released. His body was found lifeless when police reinforcements arrived, as did that of six others.

Among the injured transported to nearby hospitals, "three are undergoing emergency surgery and four" are in stable condition, according to the fire chief.

Among those hit by the shooting was a five-year-old child, according to a hospital official quoted by NBC News. The state's governor, Greg Abbott, lamented an "unspeakable tragedy."

US President Joe Biden "has been briefed on the shooting," a White House official told reporters.

More guns than people

Local authorities praised the action of the police officer who shot dead the gunman. "We have a debt (...) to the first responders who rushed (to the scene) shots and acted quickly to neutralize the threat," said Representative Keith Self, Republican representative of Texas, whose district includes the city of Allen.

Video footage broadcast by CNN shows the gunman getting out of a sedan in the mall parking lot and opening fire.

There was initially talk of a possible second shooter, according to authorities, but Brian Harvey said police believe the neutralized suspect, whose identity is not yet known, "acted alone". The shooter was wearing tactical gear, according to CNN.

Janet St. James, a spokeswoman for Medical City Healthcare, which operates several trauma centers in North Texas, said she received eight patients in the shooting ranging in age from 5 to 61, according to NBC News.

According to Jaynal Pervez, a witness interviewed by CBS and arrived at the scene after a call from his daughter, present in the mall, chaos has seized the site.

"I saw shoes, people's phones on the street," he said. With more guns than people, the United States has the highest gun death rate of any developed country: 49,000 in 2021, up from 45,000 in 2020.

The Gun Violence Archive has already documented more than 195 mass shootings in the United States this year, in which four or more people have been injured or killed.

With AFP

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