What we know about the victims of the Texas outlet mall shooting

Sara Tabatabaie wipes away a tear at a memorial outside an entrance to the parking lot of the mall a day after a mass shooting at Allen Premium Outlets on Sunday in Allen, Texas. Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP

North Texans grieved Sunday in the aftermath of gunfire that killed eight people and wounded seven others at an Allen mall – leaving the community to grapple with the second-deadliest mass shooting in the United States this year.

Just after 3:30 p.m. Saturday, police said an officer who was nearby on an unrelated call heard gunfire at Allen Premium Outlets in the 800 block of West Stacy Road, near U.S. Highway 75.

According to police, the officer “engaged the suspect and neutralized the threat” and then called for emergency responders. The shooter, who police said acted alone, was one of seven people declared dead on scene.

Nine additional victims were taken to hospitals, where two of them later died. Three of the seven remaining wounded victims were in critical condition, and four were stable, police said Saturday.

Here’s what we know about the lives lost.

Christian LaCour, 20

Christian LaCour, a 20-year-old Farmersville resident, was one of the eight people killed, a family member confirmed Sunday.

The relative told The Dallas Morning News that LaCour was “a sweet caring young man who was loved greatly by [their] family.” Multiple social media posts said LaCour was a security guard.

“He was such a beautiful soul, 20 years old with goals for his future,” one post said. “I was so proud of him.”

“Words cannot even begin to describe the devastation that our family feels,” another post read. “There will forever be a void.”

Aishwarya Thatikonda, 27

Aishwarya Thatikonda, a project engineer from India, died in the shooting, according to multiple media reports.

The Times of India reported Thatikonda, 27, was from Hyderabad and her family was working to have her body brought back home.

According to her LinkedIn, Thatikonda worked in Dallas as a project engineer at Perfect General Contractors LLC. She lived in McKinney.

A man who was with Thatikonda at the time of the shooting was also injured, the outlet reported. It was unclear what condition he was in as of Monday.

3 family members, 1 surviving child

The Houston office of the South Korean consulate confirmed Monday that Cho Kyu Song, 37, Kang Shin Young, 35, and their child were killed. The child’s age was not immediately clear.

According to a letter from New Song Church, based in Carrollton, a 5-year-old child of the couple survived. The child was injured and was being treated at a hospital, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported.

Medical City Healthcare previously said it had received eight victims ages 5 to 61.

“We need prayer,” the letter stated in Korean. “Please go to your place of prayer and pray for the family. No words can help with their pain, but we hope that our prayers will be heard by God who will provide healing for the family.”

John Jun, a co-founder of the Korean American Coalition of Dallas-Fort Worth, said he first learned multiple victims of the mass shooting were of Korean descent through Korean-language news outlets. Jun also attends New Song Church in Carrollton.

“This is a horrific event, it just hits you in the heart when something like this happens close to home. Then having learned that four of the victims are Korean, it hits you even harder,” said Jun, who is also a Coppell city council member.

“It’s devastating to think that they were simply out shopping and enjoying time together when their lives were taken from them,” one Facebook post about the family read. “This kind of violence has no place in our society, and we must come together to do everything we can to prevent it from happening again. May the Cho and Kang families find comfort and strength during this difficult time.”