Gun violence is leading cause of death for US children, says Biden, after eight shot in Texas

The leading cause of death for American children is now gun violence, US president Joe Biden has said.

The president on Sunday again called for a ban on assault weapons following the latest mass shooting in the country.

[ Analysis: The 199th US mass shooting this year – a depressingly familiar scene ]

A gun attack at a shopping centre in Allen, Texas – about 40km from Dallas on Saturday afternoon – left eight people dead.

The suspected gunman was shot and killed by police.

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Mr Biden said that children were among the eight people who were killed in the mass shooting at the Allen premium outlets complex.

“Yesterday, an assailant in tactical gear armed with an AR-15 style assault weapon gunned down innocent people in a shopping mall, and not for the first time. Such an attack is too shocking to be so familiar. And yet, American communities have suffered roughly 200 mass shootings already this year, according to leading counts”

“More than 14,000 of our fellow citizens have lost their lives, credible estimates show. The leading cause of death for American kids is gun violence.”

The president said that “some progress” had been made in tackling gun violence in recent times but suggested that more needed to be done.

He said that after the school shooing at Uvalde in Texas a year ago he had signed a gun control law – the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act – and that he had also brought forward two dozen executive actions to stem the tide of gun violence.

Mr Biden said that individual states were banning assault weapons and expanding red flag laws – measures to allow courts to temporarily remove firearms from those deemed to be a danger to themselves and others.

However the president said this was no enough.

“We need more action, faster to save lives ... Too many families have empty chairs at their dinner tables. Republican members of Congress cannot continue to meet this epidemic with a shrug. Tweeted thoughts and prayers are not enough.”

“Once again I ask Congress to send me a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Enacting universal background checks. Requiring safe storage. Ending immunity for gun manufacturers. I will sign it immediately. We need nothing less to keep our streets safe.”

[ Suspect in killing of five Texas neighbours caught after four-day manhunt ]

On Saturday, a gunman shot and killed eight people at a shopping centre in the Dallas area of Texas before he was fatally shot by a police officer who happened to be nearby, authorities said.

Seven other people were injured, three of them critically, in the attack at Allen Premium Outlets, the latest incident of gun violence in the US.

Some said they also saw what appeared to be a police officer and a mall security guard unconscious on the ground.

Dashcam video that circulated online showed a gunman step out of a vehicle outside the shopping centre and immediately start shooting at people on the pavement. More than three dozen shots could be heard as the vehicle recording the video drove off.

Maxwell Gum, a 16-year-old shift leader at Wetzel’s Pretzels, was on his lunch break when a family with limited English ran into the back of his store, urgently telling him “Gun! Shoot!” as the sound of gunfire could be heard in the background.

He took the family into the long delivery corridor that runs behind the shops, hoping it would be a safe place to hide. They found chaos.

“There were probably like 300 people pouring in from all the different doors,” the teenager said. “People are freaking out, we’re hearing screaming.”

Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said seven people including the gunman died at the scene. Nine victims were taken to area hospitals, but two of them died.

Three of the victims were in a critical condition on Saturday evening, Mr Boyd said, and four were in a stable condition.

Officials received reports of gunshots from the Allen Premium Outlets at about 3.40pm.

Medical City Healthcare, a Dallas-area hospital system, said in a written statement it was treating people between the ages of five and 61.

An Allen Police officer was in the area on an unrelated call when he heard gunshots at Allen Premium Outlets at 3.36pm, the police department wrote on Facebook.

“The officer engaged the suspect and neutralised the threat. He then called for emergency personnel. Nine victims were transported to local hospitals by Allen Fire Department,” the agency wrote in the Facebook post. “There is no longer an active threat.”

A crowd of hundreds of people who had been shopping stood outside, across the street from the mall, on Saturday evening.

Geoffrey Keaton was having lunch with his 16-year-old daughter at Fatburger in the outlet mall when they heard gunshots.

“I immediately knew,” Mr Keaton said. “I got my baby girl under the counter to shield her, and then they got louder, like he was right there.”

Mr Keaton said the restaurant’s manager allowed customers to hide in the back, where they were able to exit through a rear door and run to their cars.

“You could see bodies of people he had shot on the sidewalk,” Mr Keaton said.

Officers circulated among them asking if anyone had seen what happened.

Fontayne Payton (35), was at H&M when he heard the sound of gunshots through the headphones he was wearing.

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

People in the store scattered before employees ushered the group into the fitting rooms and then a lockable back room, he said.

When they were given the all-clear to leave, Mr Payton saw the store had broken windows and a trail of blood to the door. Discarded sandals and bloodied clothes lay nearby.

Once outside, Mr Payton said he saw bodies.

“I pray it wasn’t kids, but it looked like kids,” he said. The bodies were covered in white towels, slumped over bags on the ground, he said.

“It broke me when I walked out to see that,” he said.

Further away, he saw the body of a heavyset man wearing all black. He assumed it was the gunman, Mr Payton said, because unlike the other bodies it had not been covered up.

Tarakram Nunna (25), and Ramakrishna Mullapudi (26), said they saw what appeared to be three people lying motionless on the ground, including one who appeared to be a police officer and another who appeared to be a mall security guard.

Another shopper, Sharkie Mouli (24), said he hid in a Banana Republic store during the shooting. As he left, he saw what appeared to be an unconscious police officer lying next to another unconscious person outside the outlet store.

“I have seen his gun lying right next to him and a guy who is like passing out right next to him,” Mr Mouli said.

Stan and Mary Ann Greene were browsing in the Columbia sportswear store when the shooting started.

“We had just gotten in, just a couple minutes earlier, and we just heard a lot of loud popping,” Mary Ann Greene said.

Employees immediately rolled down the security gate and took everyone to the rear of the store until police arrived and escorted them out, the Greenes said.

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

As he left the store, Mr Romero said, the mall appeared empty, and all the shops had their security gates down. That is when he started seeing broken glass and people who had been shot on the ground.

Video shared on social media showed people running through a car park while gunfire could be heard.

More than 30 police cruisers with lights flashing were blocking an entrance to the shopping centre, with multiple ambulances on the scene.

A live aerial broadcast from the news station showed armoured trucks and other law enforcement vehicles stationed outside the sprawling outdoor mall.

Ambulances from several neighbouring cities responded to the scene.

Four hours after the shooting, police began to allow some people to retrieve their cars that were left behind at the outlet. Others, whose cars had been parked closer to the crime scene, would have to wait until Sunday.

Rep Keith Self, a Republican who represents Allen, Texas, said on CNN that critics who are calling for more than “thoughts and prayers” after Saturday’s shooting “don’t believe in almighty God, who is absolutely in control of our lives.” Instead, he said, the country’s lack of “mental health institutions” is to blame.

“Really I would like to stay away from the politics today because I want to focus on the victims, today we should be focused on the families,” he said. “Prayers are important and they are important in the families that are devastated right now.”

In a statement, Kris Brown, the president of Brady, a gun violence prevention organisation, noted the long list of shootings in a short week.

“A house, a doctors’ office, and now a mall,” he said. “These horrific tragedies are occurring with increasing regularity and it’s clear there’s no place in this country where Americans are safe from gun violence. But this will continue to be our reality unless and until the US changes its relationship with guns and our lawmakers finally answer to the American people, not the gun lobby.”

Four hours after the shooting, police began to allow some people to retrieve their cars that were left behind at the outlet. Others, whose cars had been parked closer to the crime scene, would have to wait until Sunday.

In a statement, Kris Brown, the president of Brady, a gun violence prevention organisation, noted the long list of shootings in a short week.

“A house, a doctors’ office, and now a mall,” he said. “These horrific tragedies are occurring with increasing regularity and it’s clear there’s no place in this country where Americans are safe from gun violence. But this will continue to be our reality unless and until the US changes its relationship with guns and our lawmakers finally answer to the American people, not the gun lobby.” – Additional reporting The New York Times/PA