Allen Premium Outlets set to re-open on May 31, permanent memorial to be built

ALLEN, Texas – Amid the haunting echoes of the tragic mass shooting that happened a fortnight ago, the popular Allen Premium Outlets remain inaccessible to the public, casting a somber shadow over the usually bustling town of Allen.

The mall’s management, in an announcement found on their official website, confirmed that the commercial center will remain shuttered until Tuesday, May 30. A renewed dawn awaits the precinct on Wednesday, May 31, when the facility is slated to resume operations. Significantly, individual stores within the mall will wield autonomy over their operating hours post the reopening.

Simultaneously, the administration unveiled plans for a dignified memorial dedicated to the eight individuals whose lives were abruptly extinguished in the shooting. An interim memorial, painstakingly erected by community volunteers, was respectfully disassembled a little over a week after the incident.

Meanwhile, the local H&M outlet, in an interaction with WFAA on May 27, stated that the store remains non-operational for the time being, leaving room for potential updates in the imminent future. In contrast, Fatburger declared its intentions to rekindle its operations on Wednesday, May 31, adhering to daily hours from 11am to 8pm.

Post the catastrophe, the mall’s ingress was strictly regulated, limited only to business owners and their associates. Such parties have been granted permission to commence receiving deliveries from the onset of the next week.

A stringent security checkpoint, established at the northern entrance adjacent to the auxiliary parking lot, remained the sole point of entry, manned diligently by mall security personnel. All alternative entrances stood firmly barricaded, contributing to a formidable fortress of solitude.

Simon Properties, the overseer of the mall’s operations, conveyed to WFAA that the closure would persist until the completion of all funeral rites and memorial services, honoring the victims of the tragedy.

Flashback to May 6, a day etched into the annals of Allen’s history as a day of horror, a lone gunman embarked on a killing spree within the mall’s confines, extinguishing eight lives before succumbing to police gunfire.

Victims, spanning from the tender age of 3 to 37, were identified, their lives unjustly terminated in this brutal act of violence. The perpetrator of the horrific shooting was later identified by Texas DPS as 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia.

Adding to the narrative, the Allen Police Department affirmed that an officer, initially responding to an unrelated occurrence in the vicinity, rushed towards the cacophony of gunshots, promptly “neutralizing” the assailant and summoning emergency assistance.