A gunman has shot and killed eight people and wounded at least seven others at a busy shopping mall north of Dallas.

The gunman – whom authorities say acted alone – was killed by a police officer after he began firing outside the Allen Premium Outlets mall on Saturday afternoon in Allen, Texas, the city’s police chief Brian Harvey said.

Allen fire department chief Jon Boyd said his department took at least nine victims with gunshot wounds to area hospitals.

Two of those people died at the hospital, Mr Boyd said later on Saturday. Three of the victims were critical and four others stable.

Medical City Healthcare, which runs 16 hospitals in the area, said in a statement its trauma centres were treating eight of the wounded, who ranged in age from five to 61.

Collin County Judge Chris Hill, the top elected official in the county where Allen sits, praised police and other first responders at a press conference, but expressed deep anger with “those that would do evil in our community, in our backyard”.

Blood could be seen on footpaths outside the mall and white sheets covering what appeared to be bodies. A witness describes what happened in the video below (warning: strong language).

BREAKING: Active shooter at shopping mall in Allen, Texas; reports of multiple victims#allentexas #allen #texas #shooting #breaking #news #breakingnews pic.twitter.com/TJdCfJwThN

— Crime With Bobby (@crimewithbobby) May 6, 2023

TV aerial images showed hundreds of people calmly walking out of the mall – about 40 kilometres north-east of Dallas – after the violence unfolded, many with their hands up as scores of police stood guard.

One unidentified eyewitness told local ABC affiliate WFAA TV that the gunman was “walking down the sidewalk just … shooting his gun outside,” and that “he was just shooting his gun everywhere for the most part”.

Blood could be seen on footpaths outside the mall and white sheets covering what appeared to be bodies.

Governor Greg Abbott, calling the shooting an “unspeakable tragedy,” said in a statement Texas was prepared to offer any assistance local authorities may need.

Allen, Texas, is a community of about 100,000 people.

Mass shootings have become commonplace in the US, with at least 198 so far in 2023, the most at this point in the year since at least 2016, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

The nonprofit group defines a mass shooting as any in which four or more people are wounded or killed, not including the shooter.

-AAP