Over the weekend, the nation was once again rocked to its core by yet another mass shooting, this time at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas, where 8 people were killed and at least another 7 were severely injured, after 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia opened fire in the building, as confirmed by the Texas Department of Public Safety on Sunday.
While we have yet to pin down a specific motive, multiple reports have already confirmed that Garcia maintained deep ties to right-wing extremism and white supremacy ideologies, as uncovered by investigators across his extensive social media presence, according to a senior law enforcement source with extensive knowledge on the matter.
Authorities are investigating whether the gunman was motivated by right-wing extremism, a senior law enforcement source familiar with the investigation tells CNN.
While authorities have not determined a specific motive, the source said the deceased suspect was found with an insignia on his clothing that read ‘RWDS,’ which authorities believe may stand for ‘Right Wing Death Squad.’
Some members of extremist groups have been seen in public in recent years with patches bearing the letters ‘RWDS,’ according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that monitors and reports on extremism.”
But wouldn’t you know, Texas’ gun-toting, Trump-loving Republican Governor Greg Abbott isn’t buying the Right-wing extremism motive, and doesn’t want you to either, but he’s all too happy to blame the massacre on “mental health.”
During an interview with Fox News on the heels of the shooting, host Brian Kilmeade questioned the Right-wing governor about the reports alleging that the Allen Premium Outlets shooter had deep-seated ties to Right-wing extremism, white supremacy, and neo-Nazism.
“He’s a white supremacist Nazi sympathizer?” Kilmeade pointedly questioned.
Abbott couldn’t beat around the bush hard enough, responding, “Well, so, listen, I know that there are a lot of, let’s say, early stories about the shooter out there. What I could tell from talking to the investigators yesterday, and that is people should not jump to conclusions because there’s a lot of conflicting information about him.”
But Abbott doesn’t actually have a problem with jumping to conclusions at all, considering the fact that the day before his Fox interview, where he refused to jump to any conclusions, he was quick to jump to the conclusion that the shooter’s motive came down to poor mental health.
Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, the day after the heinous mall massacre, Abbott was quoted saying, “What Texas is doing in a big-time way, we are working to address that anger and violence but going to its root cause, which is addressing the mental health problems behind it.”
Rolling Stone reviewed an FBI report on Sunday that left little question on the matter of whether Garcia was deeply tied to white supremacy.
“The review and triage of the subject’s social media accounts revealed hundreds of postings and images to include writings with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist rhetoric, including neo-Nazi materials and material espousing the supremacy of the white race.”
Greg Abbott has absolutely no qualms about jumping all over all kinds of conclusions, just not the ones that point the finger at his side.
Watch Abbott’s Fox interview here:
Featured image via screen capture
