New records obtained by NBC 5 Investigates suggest the gunman in the Allen Premium Outlets attack signed his Texas driver's license and other forms he submitted to the state with a Nazi symbol in his signature.
Through an open records request to the Texas Department of Public Safety, NBC 5 Investigates obtained an official copy of the gunman's Texas driver's license record. The record shows his signature contains what appears to be a Nazi "SS" as his middle initials on the form signed in March, less than eight weeks before the attack.
Photos the gunman has posted of himself on social media show he had a Nazi "SS" lightning bolt logo tattooed on his arm.
NBC 5 Investigates also obtained a copy of a Texas security guard license application the gunman submitted to the Texas DPS eight years ago. Again, those records from 2015 show what appears to be the lightning bolt "SS" in his signature on those official state forms.
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The "SS" was a paramilitary unit that controlled the concentration camp system in Nazi Germany.
Tom Petrowski, a former FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force supervisor, suspects the signature may have been a sort of cat-and-mouse game for the gunman, putting his ideology out there in subtle ways months or years before the mass shooting, which left 8 dead and 7 injured.
"It's a classic example of what's commonly referred to as leakage, which is when these mass shooters just signal their intentions before the mass shooting event occurs," said Petrowski.
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Petrowski suspects the gunman used a more obscure hate symbol because it was very unlikely it would be spotted by people like state workers busy processing large numbers of applications. Petrowski said he does not fault anyone at DPS for not noticing the logo, especially without the benefit of hindsight of what is known about the gunman today.
But Petrowski said this sort of "leakage" is a good reminder to everyone to watch for small clues or odd signs, from family, neighbors or co-workers which could point to radicalization that should be reported to law enforcement.
"People will have some indicators that they're leaning a certain way, that there is a radicalization occurring," said Petrowski.
New DPS records obtained by NBC 5 also show the gunman had a brief encounter with a state trooper in West Texas, less than 6 weeks before the outlet mall shooting.
A state police dash camera video shows a trooper attempting to stop the man, who is driving the same silver Dodge he drove to the mall on the day of the mall attack.
Despite repeated blasts of the trooper's siren, the car continues to travel for about two minutes before finally pulling over on the side of the freeway.
"I've been following you for a couple miles with my lights and sirens on so I started to think you were running from me," the trooper says in body camera footage, released by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The gunman replies, "I couldn't see the lights, the mirror was barely blocking it."
Body camera video shows the man speaking politely with the trooper, explaining he's on his way to a job fair in Odessa and apologizing again for not stopping sooner.
The trooper runs the man's driver's license, an older copy of his license after the man explains he just renewed it and forgot to bring the new copy with him.
NBC 5 has not been able to see a copy of the older license to see if the signature was the same.
The trooper eventually issues the man a warning for speeding. A routine stop, with nothing giving any indication the man would be involved in a horrific crime just weeks later.
DPS did not immediately respond to questions Thursday about the traffic stop, or the gunman's signature on documents submitted to the agency.
Previously DPS investigators have said they are aware Garcia subscribed to neo-Nazi ideology and had Nazi tattoos and they are investigating whether that ideology played a role in the attack.
