In this May 8, 2023, photo, A cross with a name Christian LaCour written at the center, stands by others representing each of the victims of a mass shooting at a makeshift memorial in Allen, Texas. In this May 8, 2023, photo, A cross with a name Christian LaCour written at the center, stands by others representing each of the victims of a mass shooting at a makeshift memorial in Allen, Texas. There was an active shooter at the Texas mall where she works as an assistant store manager.
So with law enforcement in the Dallas area town of Allen releasing information slowly on that horrible May 6 afternoon, she turned to social media for answers, stumbling across videos showing the bodies of some of the eight who were slain. Desperately she texted her coworkers. “That’s where all of my information came from was what I saw on Twitter. And, you know, nobody was really releasing any information on what actually happened,” she says now, nearly two weeks later.
The shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets this month has law information public information officers from around the country talking. Social media, they say, has accelerated everything. Now everyone can post images from their phone. That means if police don’t talk, reporters and the public will simply go online, as happened in Allen.