Mauricio Garcia’s motive for killing eight people and wounding seven others remains unclear. However, Garcia’s social media posts offer an insight into his ideology and mind. His uploads include praise of Adolf Hitler, swastika tattoos, complaints about his mental health, and misogynistic rants. Senior law enforcement officials told NBC News that authorities are investigating the shooting as a case of racial or ethnically motivated violent extremism.
Mauricio Garcia is of Hispanic ethnicity
As his name suggests, Mauricio Garcia is of Latino ethnicity.
Garcia’s white supremacist ideology has raised doubts about his ethnicity. However, according to a Joan Walsh article in The Nation, ‘many millions of people with Hispanic or Latino ethnicity consider themselves white’.
One of Garcia’s posts on ok.ru suggests he considered himself a white supremacist. “I think I even read in the news Hispanics could be the new white supremist [sic],” the upload reads. “Just the other day this black dude told me the line is blurring. He can’t tell the difference anymore. Someone would look white but their [sic] actually Hispanic.”
In his diary entries, Garcia admitted that he was Hispanic whether he ‘likes it or not’. He also said he wore a ‘It’s OK to be White’ shirt.
Garcia joins a group of extremist Latinos espousing white nationalist ideology: Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, is Afro-Cuban; Nick Fuentes, an antisemite and white nationalist, has a half-Mexican father.
Garcia, 33, recently moved from his parents’ house in a Dallas neighborhood. Callers to his phone were met with the following message: “Hi, this is Mauricio. If you’re the phone company I sent you the money, or if you’re my parents please send money.”
The police have contacted Garcia’s parents in their attempt to decipher the shooter’s motive. Garcia’s stepfather, Jose Sai Ortuno, promised to cooperate with investigators. “You know how people are feeling about this, this horrible thing,” Jose told The Daily Beast. “Believe me, it’s horrible. And it’s double for us. We want answers, too.”