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May 15, 2023By Gina Christian, OSV News
(OSV News) -- A graduate of a Catholic law school in Florida and two of his family members were among the eight victims slain in a May 6 mass shooting at an upscale mall in Texas.
In a May 10 tweet, Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Florida, said it would offer a May 17 Mass, with chaplain Msgr. Frank McGrath presiding, for alumnus Kyu Cho (Cho Kyu Song), his wife and two young sons, one of whom survived the shooting.
Cho, a Texas native of Korean descent, and his family were at the Allen Premium Outlets Mall some 35 miles north of Dallas when a gunman opened fire. Killed in the attack were Cho; his wife, Cindy, (Kang Shin Young); and their 3-year-old son, James.
William Cho, 6, was among the seven individuals wounded. According to a GoFundMe account set up for him, he was released from intensive care and is currently "recovering well."
The family's sole survivor had celebrated his birthday just four days prior to the attack.
"An afternoon that should have been filled with light, love and celebration unfortunately was cut short by another mass shooting massacre," said the Go Fund Me page message.
The shooter, later identified as Mauricio Garcia, was killed at the scene by an Allen police officer. The 33-year-old -- who was terminated from the Army in 2008 after three months under what officials said was a provision for a physical or mental condition -- had used an AR-15 style rifle in the attack, and he wore combat technical gear that included a patch marked "RWDS," an acronym for the extremist phrase "Right Wing Death Squad." Authorities are still investigating Garcia's motives for the attack.
Donations to a Go Fund Me page for William Cho, totaling over $1.87 million as of early May 12, will be used to enable the child to "continue the legacy of his parents."
A series of evening memorial prayer gatherings have been held at the Cho family's faith community, New Song Church in Carrollton, Texas.
So far in 2023, the U.S. has seen 210 mass shootings -- defined as attacks with four or more shot or killed, not including the shooter -- according to the Gun Violence Archive, a Washington nonprofit that provides information about gun-related violence in the United States.