One year after the tragic shooting in Allen, advocates for the Asian American community are still calling on Texas authorities to address rising gun violence and label the shooting a hate crime.
At least half of the eight people killed in the shooting at Allen Premium Outlets were Asian, including 26-year old Aishwarya Thatikonda, who had immigrated from India, and the Korean American Cho family, whose six-year old son, William, was the only surviving member.
The shooter, Mauricio Garcia, had previously shown signs of an extremist ideology through social media posts and neo-Nazi tattoos.
On Monday, eight advocacy organizations released a joint statement addressing the one-year anniversary of the shooting.
“Despite authorities finding that the gunman held Neo-Nazi ideology and targeted a location with a large AAPI population, Texas government leadership has failed to acknowledge the role of racism and refused to pass legislation preventing further gun violence,” the statement reads.
The groups — including Asian Texans for Justice and the Dallas Asian American Historical Society — are calling on Texas leaders to label the shooting a hate crime, further invest in community violence prevention and reintroduce legislation in the next session to raise the legal age of purchasing a semi-automatic weapon to 21 after attempts last year failed.
Pablo Arauz Peña
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KERA News
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