A three-year-old boy and his parents, two elementary school children and a young engineer from India were named victims of a gunshot attack in Texas on Saturday.
James Cho reportedly died along with his parents, Cho Kyu Song, 37, and Kang Shin Young, 35. His six-year-old brother was injured but survived.
The identification comes as officers investigate whether the killer had ties to far-right organizations or beliefs.
Several victims remain in the hospital.
A verified GoFundMe page says the Cho family was at the Allen Premium Outlets mall on Saturday to exchange clothes their 6-year-old son received as a birthday gift a few days earlier.
“An afternoon that should have been filled with light, love and celebration was sadly cut short by another mass shooting,” family friends wrote on the page.
Officials at the Korean consulate in Texas told the Dallas Morning News newspaper that the Cho family are American citizens of Korean descent and that diplomats are in touch with their family members.
The sisters of elementary school students Daniela and Sofia Mendoza were also killed. Her mother, Ida, remains in critical condition in hospital, according to CBS News, the BBC’s US affiliate.
Aishwarya Thatikonda, a 27-year-old engineer from India, was also killed while visiting the mall with a friend, as was security guard Christian LaCour, 20.
Six people were pronounced dead at the scene in the north Dallas suburbs, while two later died in hospital.
The 33-year-old suspect was shot dead by a police officer who responded to an unrelated call, ending the attack.
Investigators are now checking social media to probe the killer’s beliefs, CBS reports.
During the attack, the gun-wielding attacker wore a badge associated with hate groups and tactical combat gear.
On video, he was seen wearing a patch on his clothing with the letters RWDS, which stands for Right Wing Death Squad.
This is a phrase popular with far-right and white supremacist groups.
An account the suspect runs on a Russia-based social network, seen by BBC News, contains images of Nazi swastikas and SS tattoos, other posts glorifying Nazis and rambling messages of violence.
He also posted pictures from previous visits to the outlet mall, as recently as mid-April.
According to the US Department of Defense, the suspect enlisted in the US Army in June 2008 and was “dismissed three months later without completing immigration training” due to “physical or mental illness.”
He was reportedly working as a security guard at the time of the shooting and did not have a serious criminal record. Officers searched his parents’ home and a nearby extended-stay motel where he had recently been staying.
There were 201 mass shootings that year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines such incidents as four people injured or killed.
People who came to help victims after the shooting at the sprawling outdoor mall have recalled their efforts to save lives.
Meanwhile, graphic videos from the scene quickly spread and garnered millions of views on Twitter before the social media site began removing the footage more than 24 hours after the attack.
US President Joe Biden ordered flags to be flown at half-mast at the White House in honor of the victims of “the latest act of gun violence that has devastated our nation.”
Republican Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott told Fox News on Sunday his goal is to tackle gun ownership by criminals and deal with a mounting mental health crisis, rather than consider broader bans.
“People want a quick fix,” he said. “The long-term solution here is to address the mental health problem.”
Allen is a racially mixed suburb north of Dallas and has an infamous connection to another recent mass shooting.
A man who lived there in 2019 went on a gun rampage at an El Paso Walmart, killing 23 people after posting a racist manifesto online. In February, he pleaded guilty to hate crime charges.
Additional reporting by Mike Wendling
