On May 6, 2023, 11-year-old Daniela Mendoza of Allen, Texas, was killed in the mass shooting at Allen Premium Outlets. Daniela and her 8-year-old sister Sofia, both students at Cox Elementary in Wylie ISD (Daniela in fourth grade, Sofia in second), were among eight people fatally shot when 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle. Their mother, Ilda, was injured and hospitalized in critical condition. A police officer who had been at the mall for an unrelated call confronted and fatally shot the attacker.

Cox Elementary’s principal, Krista Wilson, remembered the sisters as rays of sunshine; the school community honored them by wearing yellow and leaving flowers, toys and balloons at memorials. Reports noted Garcia had an online history of white supremacist, neo-Nazi, misogynistic and anti-Semitic postings but no significant criminal record that predicted this attack. The shootings prompted vigils, memorials and renewed public discussion about preventing such violence.