Dallas, May 8 (RHC)-- In the U.S. state of Texas, a man armed with a semiautomatic rifle killed eight people and injured seven others Saturday at a suburban shopping mall outside Dallas before he was shot dead by a police officer.  Hospitals treated victims as young as 5 and as old as 61. 

Among the dead were Christian LaCour, a 20-year-old security guard at the mall, and Aishwarya Thatikonda, a 27-year-old engineer from India whose fiancé was injured and had two bullets removed from his body.  One young boy was found alive beneath the body of his mother, who died protecting him. Over 100 spent shell casings were recovered from the scene.

Authorities haven’t yet cited a motive but are investigating whether the 33-year-old gunman had ties to white supremacist groups. He wore tactical gear and a patch on his chest reading ”RWDS,” for “Right Wing Death Squad,” a slogan popular among neo-Nazis. 

As Texas Governor Greg Abbott spoke Sunday at a prayer vigil in Allen, protesters outside demanded reforms to gun laws.