On May 6 the alleged shooter, Mauricio Garcia, opened fire at the Allen Premium Outlets, killing eight and hospitalizing seven. The Allen community has begun the process of  grieving, rallying and healing together. 

The healing process that follows an event with such magnitude can be long and difficult, but the Allen community has gathered together to move forward. 

In response to the incident, the community has put together a memorial, designed shirts to raise money for the victim’s families, offered free counseling services and provided students with K-9 comfort dogs. 

The memorial for the victims of the shooting was set up outside one of the entrances of the outlet mall. The outlet mall is temporarily closed to allow the community to pay respects to the memorial and has not announced when they plan on reopening. The memorial continued to grow, even days past the shooting, with flowers, toys and other items placed in front of the memorial site. 

“I visited the memorial and it’s absolutely beautiful,” a middle school student at Allen Ishika Vasal said. “There are flowers everywhere and so many people. There are crosses in the back along with a painting in the center. You can tell that Allen cares a lot about their community.”

The memorial was removed on Tuesday, May 16, according to NBC5 DFW. 

Students a part of the Eagle Edge productions team, a student-led merchandise business at Allen High School, have taken an initiative to help their community raise money for those directly affected by the shooting. The Monday following the shooting, the team got together, designed a shirt, and by the end of that day, were already printing shirts to fundraise. 

“Mrs. Rowley texted us saying that she wanted to do something to support the community,” senior and Student Body President Elena Reyes said. “We decided that we should do a T-shirt and donate the funds and the proceeds to an organization or foundation that could help support those who were highly affected by the tragedy that took place.”

The Eagle Edge has sold around 2,500 shirts since the orders opened last week, according to teacher Pete Van Der Ziel. After careful consideration regarding the foundation they would like to donate the proceeds to, they decided on Communities Foundation of Texas, which will distribute the money out to first responders and those directly affected.

LifePath Systems and Lutheran Church Charities have offered emotional support for the Allen community. While the LifePath Systems is offering free counseling services to the Collin County Community from licensed clinicians, the Lutheran Church Charities visited Allen High School to provide students with comfort dogs they could interact with in the main hallway.

“All Lutheran Church Charities K‐9 Ministry dogs are trained to provide a calming effect to people, adults and children who interact with them,” Debra Baran Director of Communications and Media Relations at Lutheran Church Charities said. “The Comfort Dogs offer no judgment, and have no requirements. They are just there to provide love and to receive it.”

Each comfort dog receives over 2,000 hours of training over 18-24 months. Baran said they were able to deploy their K-9 team to Allen within 24 hours of the tragedy because they have many LCC K-9 Ministry teams located in Texas and several very close to Allen. 

In addition to the emotional support and healing the community has entailed, individuals have gathered to seek policy change. Some students in Allen have become outspoken regarding stricter gun laws and have participated in protests and sit-ins that advocate for gun reform. 

Kamilah Ponce, a junior at Allen High School, conducted a sit-in within the school on May 11, encouraging students to contact senators in hopes of obtaining safer gun regulations. 

“What you need to do is call and email senators, that’s what matters,” Ponce said. “We had a station in the Performing Arts Center. You get a donut if you call or email the senators. If you want candy, you text a message [to the senators]. The purpose is to make sure everyone is aware of what’s going on and for us all to join as a community to try and stop what’s going on around the world.”