Owner of Allen Premium Outlets and security company charged in shootings at malls in Texas and 3 other states

The families of several victims in the Allen Premium Outlets shooting last year and others are suing the mall owner and security company for allegedly failing to take steps to prevent gun violence across the country.

The latest lawsuit — filed Aug. 23 in Dallas County U.S. District Court — names Simon Property Group, owner of Allen Premium Outlets, and Allied Universal Security Services as defendants. The lawsuit alleges the companies failed to properly secure the Allen mall and have long failed to prevent crime at Simon-owned malls across the country.

“In the decade that Simon and Allied boasted of its unparalleled security systems, they failed to meaningfully prepare for an active shooter event at their Allen, Texas, location,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit was filed by the families of Kyu Song Cho, Cindy Shinyoung Cho and their 3-year-old son James, Elio Cumana Rivas and Aishwarya Thatikonda, who among the eight victims shot dead by 33-year-old gunman Mauricio Garcia. Preetibala Patel, another plaintiff, was among those wounded in the shooting, the complaint said.

The lawsuit was filed by attorneys at National Trial Law in Austin and Simon Greenstone Panatier in Dallas. The plaintiffs are seeking more than $1 million in damages.

The Allen Police Department responded to more than 3,000 calls to the outlet mall in the three years before the shooting, the lawsuit alleges — sometimes receiving multiple calls in a day. According to the lawsuit, the Allen Police Department pleaded for more uniformed officers to secure the mall, but Simon and Allied “ignored” those requests.

“Simon and Allied also knew that their shopping centers were attractive targets for criminal activity, including mass gun violence,” the complaint said. “Simon and Allied failed to update their security policies, procedures, or safeguards to reflect the increasing prevalence of violent threats and mass shootings in Texas.”

According to the indictment, only one allied security guard was present in the mall on May 6, 2023 — Christian LaCourwho was unarmed and was also killed in the shooting. A Allen police officer on an unrelated call shots were heard in the area.

This is at least the third lawsuit filed this summer against Simon Property Group and Allied Universal Security Services over shootings at Simon shopping centers.

Two lawsuits were filed in July on behalf of people who were injured and killed in a shooting at a Simon shopping center in Greenwood, Indiana, in 2022. An Indiana appeals court judge is consider dismissing a separate lawsuit in which a woman was injured in the shooting.

A woman whose 13-year-old daughter was murdered outside the Concord Mills Mall in North Carolina sued Simon and Allied Universal in 2021. A man was shot during a 2005 shooting at the Tacoma Mall in Washington sued Simon Property Group for negligence.

Allen's lawsuit also cites other incidents of violence at Simon locations in Massachusetts and Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, Allied Universal Security Services is also accused of failing to properly train employees and failing citizens.

Simon Property Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Allied Universal said the company does not comment on pending litigation.

The families are also suing Garcia, the gunman who was shot and killed by police during the shooting. Garcia moved out of his mother's home and into the Budget Suites of America on North Stemmons Freeway months before the shooting, the lawsuit says.

Garcia allegedly used his motel room as a base to plan the mall attack and store weapons and tactical gear. He reportedly signed a Nazi “SS” symbol when he checked into the motel.

KERA previously reported that Garcia the symbol included in several signatures when he applied to become a security guard in 2015. According to law enforcement officials, Garcia was armed with eight weapons on the day of the shooting and had “neo-Nazi ideas.”

The lawsuit accuses Budget Suites of failing to report Garcia's behavior to police. Budget Suites could not be reached for comment.

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