Nine dead including the killer, three injured in critical condition and four in stable condition: This is the result of another massacre, this time at a mall in Allen, a suburb 40 kilometers from Dallas, Texas. The alarm went off around 3.30pm when a man arrived by car and parked near the entrance to the mall near the H&M store.

The killer, dressed in black combat uniform and wearing a bulletproof vest, came out with a weapon of war, an Ar-15 rifle, and began shooting at people a few meters away. Five, including a child, were killed instantly, with a sixth not far away. The killer walked down the sidewalk and shot everyone nearby. Ten were injured, including two who later died in hospital.

At that moment there were thousands of people in the mall, families, women, boys, engaged couples, children. The massacre could have been worse if an agent who had been called to the mall for another reason had not intervened. The police officer confronted the killer and killed him by hitting him in the left eye at least once. The killer’s body was left outside a hamburger and sandwich shop.

The man dressed in black had the semi-automatic rifle with the 45-round magazine in it at his side. This massacre has offered a chilling set of documents compared to recent ones, showing the key moments of the massacre. In a clip captured by the camera installed on the car of a person who has just left the mall, we see the arrival of the killer’s car, the man getting out and shooting at the crowd as if at an execution begins. Images aren’t sharp, but the barrage of gunfire is clearly audible.

Another video shows people fleeing while a dozen powerful explosions are heard in quick succession. A third video, taken with a mobile phone by a person approaching the bodies of the victims, showed people devastated and covered in blood from the beating. The video was clicked on Twitter for hours without the platform censoring it. Among the bodies at the mall entrance was a boy or girl with arms outstretched and blood on the back of his neck. According to the investigators, whose name has not yet been mentioned, the investigator fired between 60 and 70 shots.

The massacre again raises the issue of arms proliferation. The governor, the republican Gregory Abbott, spoke of an “inexplicable tragedy” but since 2014 the number of gun casualties has grown vertically, along with the increase in the number of guns in circulation. Nine years ago, according to the Centers for Disease Control, there were 2,468 victims. In the following year there were 3,203, and the trend is rising: 3,353 deaths in 2016, then 3,513 in 2017, 3,522 in 2018, 3,683 in 2019.

If California holds the record for gun sales, Texas is secondbut surpasses it in the death rate: 67 percent higher than the west coast state.

An intervention from the White House is expected in the next few hours. With every massacre, US President Joe Biden makes the same appeal to Republicans in Congress: Pass legislation banning weapons of war immediately. As always, it is not heard. The gun lobby in America is very strong and funds politicians in Washington, particularly those in the Republican Party. Conservatives, as always, are already “sending prayers” to the victims’ families. To reporters who asked if prayer wasn’t enough to stop the massacres, the Republican representative from Texas said, Keith self he replied, “Those who criticize do not believe in an almighty God who controls our lives instead.” Trumpian Marjorie Taylor Greene goes in the same direction: “We no longer need gun control – he commented – but entrust ourselves to God”.

“Out of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence in Allen, Texas, I am ordering that the flag of the United States be flown over the White House and all public buildings and military bases, both domestic and foreign, through the auction halfway through May 11th“, reads a memo from the American President, who for months has been asking Congress to pass a law banning assault rifles, “weapons of war‘ as Biden called them. The US President Joe BidenIn fact, he again urged Congress to ban this type of weapon: “I again urge Congress to send me legislation banning assault weapons and high-powered ammunition weapons that require complete control over who buys the guns, securing them, and ending immunity for gun manufacturers. And I will sign it immediately‘ Biden said in a statement released by the White House