A yet-to-be-identified gunman has shot and killed eight people, and wounded no fewer than seven others at a busy shopping mall north of the city of Dallas in the United States, according to police.
The assailant whom authorities were convinced acted alone in the shooting, was fatally shot by a police officer on Saturday after he began firing outside of the Allen Premium Outlets mall in Allen, a suburb north of Dallas in the state of Texas, the police confirmed.
‘He heard gunshots, went to the gunshots, engaged the suspect and neutralised the suspect,’ the city’s police chief Brian Harvey said at a press conference earlier on Saturday.
‘He also then called for ambulances.’
Allen fire department chief Jon Boyd told the same press conference that his department took at least nine victims with gunshot wounds to area hospitals.
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Two of those people died at the hospital, Boyd said at a second press conference on Saturday night.
Three of the victims were in critical condition, and four others were stable, he added.
Medical City Healthcare, a Dallas-area hospital system, said in a written statement it was treating eight people between the ages of 5 and 61.
TV aerial images which were obtained by Africa Today News, New York showed hundreds of people calmly walking out of the mall, located about 40 km(25 miles) northeast of Dallas, Texas, after the violence unfolded, many with their hands up as dozens of police stood guard.
The footage also showed blood on sidewalks outside the mall and white sheets covering what appeared to be bodies.