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A memorial to victims of the Allen Premium Outlets mass shooting is seen, Monday, May 6, 2024, in Allen, Texas. The memorial stands 11 feet tall and has eight wind chimes, one for each of the victims of the shooting.<\/p>\n
El\u00edas Valverde II\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
Texas\u2019 top court will decide whether victims of the 2023\u00a0Allen mall mass shooting<\/a> can sue the center’s owner for negligence.\u00a0<\/p>\n Family members of victims allege that Simon Property Group failed to provide adequate safety measures<\/a> at Allen Premium Outlets, where eight people were killed and seven injured in the massacre. Simon Property, however, wants the lawsuit thrown out, arguing that it did not have a legal duty to protect shoppers from a shooting.\u00a0<\/p>\n A police officer working nearby shot and killed the gunman<\/a>, who wore a tactical vest embroidered with “RWDS” (Right Wing Death Squad) and had expressed white supremacist and neo-Nazi views before the shooting.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The lawsuit also names the mall\u2019s security provider, Allied Universal Security Services, and Budget Suites of America, which operated the motel where the gunman was living beforehand.<\/p>\n Byron Henry, an attorney representing the family members and victims, told the Texas Supreme Court<\/a> last week that Simon knew of the risk of shootings at open-air malls because other properties had experienced them, according to Courthouse News Service.\u00a0<\/p>\n Early morning hours at Allen Premium Outlets mall on the day of the reopening on Wednesday, May 31, 2023 in Allen.<\/p>\n Shafkat Anowar\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n In the three years preceding the shooting, the families say, the Allen Police Department<\/a> responded to more than 3,000 calls at the mall. Still, the mall had only one unarmed security guard for the 611,000-square-foot complex. The guard was killed by the shooter.<\/p>\n But Monica Latin, the owners\u2019 attorney, told the court that property owners do not have a legal duty under Texas law to protect against third-party acts on their premises, especially criminal acts, Courthouse News reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Related: Families of victims in 2023 Allen shooting sue mall owner, security company<\/a><\/p>\n Justice Debra Lehrmann asked whether mass shootings should be held to the same standard as other crimes, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n “This is a completely unique, different thing that our country, unlike other countries, has to deal with,” she said.<\/p>\n The shooting victims <\/a>represented in the suit are Kyu Song Cho, 37; Cindy Shinyoung Cho, 35; and James Cho, 3; Elio Cumana-Rivas, 32; and Aishwarya Thatikonda, 26. Preetibala Patel, who was injured in the shooting, and her family also joined the suit.<\/p>\n Also killed in the shooting were Christian LaCour, a 20-year-old security officer from Farmersville who was working at the mall that day, and sisters Sofia and Daniela Mendoza, 8 and 11.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Names of the victims are shown on screens as the Allen Philharmonic Orchestra plays during a remembrance event at Credit Union of Texas Event Center commemorating the 2023 mass shooting at Allen Premium Outlets on Monday, May 6, 2024, in Allen, Texas.<\/p>\n Smiley N. Pool\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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