The shooter who carried out the massacre at Allen Premium Outlets, outside of Dallas, was wearing a tactical vest emblazoned with the acronym “RWDS.”
According to the AP, the term “Right Wing Death Squad” originated in the 1970s and was used to describe Central and South American paramilitary groups who supported right-wing governments and dictatorships and opposed perceived enemies on the left.
Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, told the news service that “RWDS” reemerged in the 2010s among some right-wing groups, who used it on stickers, patches and in online forums.
“It essentially became a phrase that was co-opted to demonstrate opposition to the left more broadly by right-wing extremists,” Segal said.
According to Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, the Proud Boys — a neofascist group of self-described “Western chauvinists” — are largely responsible for popularizing the use of “RWDS” among the far-right.
Given the RWDS patch worn by the Texas shooter, investigators quickly zeroed in on his social media accounts in search of a possible motive.
According to NBC News, a preliminary review revealed “hundreds of posts” that expressed interest in white supremacist and neo-Nazi views.
AP reports that posts made by Garcia on a Russian social networking site showed “a fascination with white supremacy and mass shootings, which he described as sport.”