Who is responsible when a mass shooting happens at a mall?
That question is now before the Texas Supreme Court after the owners of Allen Premium Outlets asked the state’s top court to throw out a negligence lawsuit from victims and families of the 2023 mass shooting that killed eight people and injured seven others.
Simon Property Group and its corporate affiliates—which also own the Galleria and Houston Premium Outlets—argue they had no legal duty to protect shoppers from the shooting, according to Courthouse News Service. The plaintiffs, meanwhile, argue the mall owners failed to put adequate security measures in place before the massacre.
Background
The lawsuit stems from the May 6, 2023, shooting at Allen Premium Outlets. Authorities have said the shooter, 33-year-old Mauricio Martinez Garcia, expressed white supremacist and neo-Nazi views and wore a tactical vest embroidered with an “RWDS,” or “Right Wing Death Squad,” patch…