The self-proclaimed good Samaritan who in multiple news interviews claimed he performed CPR and helped victims in the fatal Texas mall shooting has been accused of lying and spreading misinformation.
The Allen Police Department, whose officers responded to the massacre that left eight people and the gunman dead, have declared that former Army officer Steven Spainhouer is not a “credible witness” after finding inconsistencies about the stories he shared with CBS News and other outlets.
Spainhouer claimed he raced to the Allen Premium Outlets after getting a call from his son about the shooting, with the frantic dad recalling how he arrived before any other first responder and tried to administer first aid to the victims, including a girl who “had no face” and a boy who was hiding underneath his dead mother.
Spainhouer was hailed as a hero in the middle of the tragedy, and he went on national media outlets to call for gun reform in the Lone Star State despite being a “gun lover.”
Allen police, however, said the dramatic testimony does not fit with the official timeline of the shooting, warning the public and media to stop sharing Spainhouer’s tale.
“Allen Police Department wants to inform the public of discrepancies with statements made by a witness to several media outlets. Following the shooting at Allen Premium Outlets, Mr. Steven Spainhouer of McKinney, Texas gave multiple public accounts of his actions,” the police said in a statement.
“Inconsistencies between these public accounts and investigative facts led Allen Police Department to conduct a follow-up interview. During this interview, detectives determined that Mr. Spainhouer is not a credible incident witness.”
The police department said Spainhouer was actually at the scene between 3:44 p.m. and 3:52 p.m. on May 6, several minutes after an officer responding to a different call shot and killed gunman Mauricio Garcia.
Spainhouer “did not perform Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) or administer first aid” and “did not move a deceased mother who was covering a live child,” the police said.
The Army veteran, however, insisted that his story is true and said first responders failed to arrive in a reasonable time to help the victims.
“When I arrived at the H&M store, there was one person there asking for my help,” Spainhouer wrote in a Facebook post about the allegations. “If there were other first responders there before I showed up, I would have no way of knowing it. If the Allen Police were at the mall before me, I would have no way to know it, because they were not at the H&M Store location where most of the shooting victims were located.
“I know what I did and did not do while waiting on the Allen Police and Fire Departments,” he continued. “I know that there were individuals who were deceased and could not be treated with CPR. I know because I was there.
“I did not move any victims, except the first one I found to check on her. A small child pulled himself from under a victim and I assisted him to a safe space away from the area.
“Instead of targeting me on what I did or didn’t do, perhaps the Allen Police can explain why it took 20 minutes to get to the front of the H&M store, where there were injured victims, if they were already on site, before I got there,” he added.
Spainhouer and the Allen Police Department did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
