By JACK MYER, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, JOHN SEEWER and KATHLEEN RONAYNE Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A gunman wearing clothes with an Iranian flag design and the words “Property of Allah” killed two people and wounded 14 early Sunday at a Texas bar, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The FBI is investigating the shooting, which erupted a day after the U.S. and Israel launched an attack on Iran, as a potential act of terrorism.
Police in Austin shot and killed the gunman, who used both a pistol and a rifle to carry out the attack, police said.
The shooting happened outside Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden just before 2 a.m. along Sixth Street, a nightlife destination filled with bars and music clubs and only a few miles (kilometers) from the University of Texas at Austin.
Nathan Comeaux, a 22-year-old senior, had spent the evening there with friends and said the bar was “full of college students, probably mostly UT kids, shoulder to shoulder, hundreds just enjoying their nights.”
The suspect drove past the bar several times before stopping and shooting from the window of his SUV at people on a patio and in front of the bar, according to Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis.
He then parked, got out with a rifle and began shooting at people walking along the street before officers rushed to the intersection and shot him, Davis said. Three of the injured were in critical condition Sunday morning, she said.
The gunman was identified as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
A student witnesses the gunfire
Comeaux had left the bar to grab pizza at a food truck across the street about 10 minutes before the first gunshots were fired. No one around the pizza truck understood what was happening, he said, with some thinking the noise was fireworks or a loud motorcycle.
Comeaux said he hid behind a bench for about a minute before getting out, and he saw police officers running toward the scene. He pulled out his phone to begin recording. That’s when more shots rang out. Comeaux said he saw the suspect turn his gun on police before officers shot him.
He said he knows someone who was shot and guessed that many other UT students do as well.
“The UT community has definitely been majorly affected by this,” he said.
FBI says attack may be terrorism
Authorities haven’t provided a clear motive for the attacks but found “indicators” on the gunman and in his vehicle leading them to look into the possibility of terrorism, said Alex Doran, the acting agent in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio office.
“It’s still too early to make a determination on that,” Doran said Sunday morning.
Diagne first entered the U.S in 2000 on a B-2 tourist visa and became a lawful permanent resident six years later after marrying a U.S. citizen, according to DHS. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2013, the department said. Diagne was originally from Senegal, according to multiple people briefed on the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.
The White House said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the shooting.
Texas officials weigh in
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott warned that the state would respond aggressively to anyone trying to “use the current conflict in the Middle East to threaten Texas.”
University of Texas at Austin President Jim Davis said on social media that some of those affected included “members of our Longhorn family.”
“Our prayers are with the victims and all those impacted,” said university President Jim Davis.
The entertainment district has a heavy police presence on weekends, and officers were able to confront the gunman within a minute of the first call for help, Davis said.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson praised the fast response by police and rescuers.
“They definitely saved lives,” he said.
The scene the following evening was quiet in the typically bustling entertainment district amid downtown Austin’s hills and vintage homes, including that of the governor, whose residence is just blocks away.
Police had taped off several square blocks around Sixth Street, while local police and federal agents, including ATF agents were at the site, according to Austin police serving as sentries.
Unmarked law enforcement vehicles were coming and going, as were firetrucks. Bystanders and news reporters and camera crews stood at the corners outside the yellow tape, trying to catch a glimpse of the activity.
There have been at least two other high-profile shootings in Austin’s Sixth Street entertainment district within the past five years, including one in the summer of 2021 that left 14 people wounded. Although this weekend’s shooting doesn’t meet the definition of a mass killing, there have been five of those so far this year.
___
This story has been corrected to say that Diagne came to the United States in 2000, not 2006. An AP source briefed on the investigation but not authorized to discuss it publicly originally said he arrived in 2006. The Department of Homeland Security later said he came in 2000.
___
Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio; and Durkin Richer from Washington and Ronayne from Sacramento, California. Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont in Austin, Rebecca Santana and Eric Tucker in Washington and Olivia Diaz in Richmond, Virginia, contributed. ___ Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.