Hundreds gathered in Allen Monday to honor the lives of eight people who were killed a year ago in the Allen Premium Outlets mass shooting.
Behind a podium partially illuminated by candlelight at the Credit Union of Texas Event Center, Allen Mayor Baine Brooks said the shooting was a shared trauma for the entire city, full of grief the victims' families, friends and residents still carry to this day.
Brooks saw the event as a time for the community to come together.
“I’m so glad we’re here and you are here today,” Brooks said. “So we can lean on each other, so we can love on each other and so we can experience the healing that happens when we do hard things together instead of doing them alone.”
In an interfaith reflection, Rev. Mary Beth Hardesty-Crouch of the First United Methodist Church of Allen recognized the work of those who helped manage the crisis, including first responders, mall employees who provide shelter, emergency medical workers and community leaders.
“We come together to remember and give thanks for how this community came together in shared grief — from different faiths, from different cultures, from different backgrounds — to stand together and say, ‘we will not be overcome. We will not be broken,’” she said.
Monday’s roughly 30-minute ceremony included performances by the Allen Philharmonic Orchestra and a performance of “Amazing Grace” by the Allen High School varsity men’s choir. All were met with reverent silence from the crowd.
Southern Methodist University music lecturer Lane Harder remembered watching the shooting unfold on the news a year ago and, like others, wondering what he could possibly do to help.
“I’m not a community organizer, I’m a musician,” he said. “And I thought, well, maybe music could play a role here. I mean, music can help us access emotions in a different way than they might otherwise.”
The orchestra performed Harder’s original piece titled “In Lumine,” the name urging listeners to remember the killed victims of the shooting “in the light of life.” The names of the eight victims were displayed on screens above: Kyu Song Cho, Cindy Cho, James Cho, Elio Cumana-Rivas, Christian LaCour, Aishwarya Thatikonda and Daniela and Sofia Mendoza.
Harder said after the event he was gratified to see his piece exist in the somber and special moment it was meant for — but he has no future plans for the composition beyond honoring the shooting anniversary.
“There may be a time when it could expand more broadly beyond the borders of Allen and maybe be seen as a memorial for, unfortunately, other victims of senseless gun violence,” Harder said. “But for now, all eyes are on Allen, and I think that’s appropriate.”
There were more than 600 mass shootings in the United States in 2023, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. In response to the Allen shooting, Texas communities have once again seen renewed calls for gun control along with further pushes to loosen gun regulations.
Cheryl Jackson of Minnie’s Food Pantry had been at the temporary memorial outside the outlet mall in the days following the shooting, keeping it organized along with other community volunteers. She said the tears she shed in those days were indeed ones of pain, but also of gratitude that the community was making it through the dark time together.
The city of Allen pointed attendees to professional counselors with the Center for Healing who were stationed throughout the event center Monday. Though Jackson was disappointed by what she said was a small turnout, she said she hopes the whole city takes advantage of whatever mental and emotional health resources they may need.
“Cities need playbooks that, if this happens in your city, this is how you should activate,” she said. “Because it can happen, unfortunately, any day, any time, anywhere.”
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