AAPI Victory Alliance on the Mass Shooting at Shopping Mall Near Dallas That Claimed the Lives of Four AAPIs

WASHINGTON — After the mass shooting that took the lives of eight people at a shopping center in Allen, Texas, on Saturday — including an Indian immigrant and three members of a Korean-American family — AAPI Victory Alliance issued a statement to mourn the lives lost and reaffirm the national outcry for gun violence prevention legislation.

AAPI Victory Alliance Executive Director Varun Nikore issued the following statement:

“Today, we remember the lives of Aishwarya Thatikonda, Christian LaCour, Daniela and Sofia Mendoza, Kang Shin Young, Cho Kyu Song and James Cho, whose lives were taken too soon at the hands of gun violence.

“There is nowhere in America that feels safe today—not school, not movie theaters, not at the shopping mall. We are no longer the land of the free—but a nation living in fear. We can’t wait any longer to act.

“AAPI Victory Alliance stands in solidarity with the entire Collin County community, which is home to Texas’ largest and fastest-growing population of minority groups — including a sizable AAPI population. We send our sincere condolences to the families who have lost loved ones. And we once again call on our elected officials at every level of government to take bold, tangible steps toward protecting all of our communities from the threat of gun violence—banning assault weapons and getting weapons of war off our streets.”