Shooting at a mall near Dallas, children among the victims

ALLEN, Texas — Several people were shot and killed at a mall in the Dallas suburb of Allen, Texas, on Saturday, sending hundreds of shoppers fleeing in panic in the latest gun violence to hit the country.

Calls about shots fired came in around 3:40 p.m. from Allen Premium Outlets. An Allen police dispatcher confirmed the department is investigating the shooting, but could not say more.

WFAA-TV reported that police at the scene said there were multiple victims, including children.

Representative Keith Self, who represents the district that includes the mall, said he has confirmed with law enforcement that the shooter is dead and that no one else was involved in the attack.

Their conditions were not immediately known, but WFAA reported that the Collin County Sheriff’s Office said the shooter had died.

On Saturday night, a crowd of hundreds of shoppers lined the street across the street from the mall. Officers walked among them and asked if anyone had seen what had happened.

Fontaine Payton, 35, was in H&M when he heard gunshots through the headphones he was wearing.

“It was so loud it sounded like it was outside,” Payton said.

People in the store dispersed before employees ushered the group into the fitting rooms and then into the back room, which was being locked, he said. When they were given permission to leave, Peyton saw the store’s windows broken and a trail of blood leading to the door. Discarded sandals and bloodstained clothes lay nearby.

Once outside, Peyton saw the bodies.

“I’m praying it wasn’t kids, but it looked like kids,” he said. According to him, the bodies were covered with white towels, placed on sacks on the ground.

“It broke me when I went out to see it,” he said.

Next he saw the body of a strong man in all black. He assumed it was the shooter, Payton said, because unlike the other bodies, it was not covered.

Stan and Mary Ann Green were browsing the Columbia Sportswear store when the shooting started.

“We just walked in, just a few minutes ago, and we just heard a lot of loud popping,” Mary Ann Green told The Associated Press. “I said, ‘Was that a shooting?’ »

Employees immediately lowered the security gate and ushered everyone to the back of the store until police arrived and escorted them out, Green said.

Eber Romero was at the Under Armor store when the cashier mentioned that there had been a shooting.

Romero said when he left the store, the mall looked empty and all the stores had their security gates down. Then he began to see broken glass and shot people on the floor.

A video posted on social media shows people running around the parking lot, hearing gunfire.

More than 30 police cruisers with flashing lights blocked the entrance to the mall, and several ambulances were on the scene.

A live broadcast from the news station showed armored trucks and other law enforcement vehicles parked outside the wide-open mall.

Ambulances from several neighboring cities arrived at the scene.

The Dallas office of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also responded.

Allen, a suburb about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of downtown Dallas, has approximately 105,000 residents.

Associated Press writers Adam Kealoha Causey in Dallas and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho contributed to this report.