AUSTIN, Texas — A student at the University of Texas at Austin captured a striking video of what appeared to be a shootout between Austin Police, and the suspected mass shooter in downtown Austin early Sunday morning, Ndiagna Diagne. What was supposed to be a night to remember as his college experience comes to a close has stained it.
Around 1:50 am Sunday morning, Nathan Codeaux left Bufords, the popular college bar on W 6th Street in downtown Austin, to grab a slice of pizza after celebrating a friend’s 21st birthday party. The bar was closing in the next 10 minutes. Then, he heard over 15 loud bangs.
“No one knew what was going on. We thought maybe it was fireworks. Maybe it’s like a motorcycle, so no one was panicking for the first probably two minutes after that,” he said.
Codeaux said he ducked behind a bench nearby and waited out the shots. After a few quick minutes, he got back up and started recording the area of what happened.
“So, I pulled my camera to video what they’re running towards, and then I just got lucky enough to capture the moment that I saw the suspect come up,” Codeaux said. “In retrospect, my parents will tell me I should have not been videoing, but doing a better job hiding.”
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Austin Police say the received a call about a shooting at Bufords around 1:58 am Sunday morning. That’s when Codeaux heard the next round of bullets start flying. This time, filmed from his phone which appeared to be a shootout with Austin Police.
“It was all in successions. Bang, bang, bang for like probably 15 times, and then silence,” Codeaux recounted. “And then that’s when we thought it was all clear. And then later, there was another set of, I think, around eight shots about five minutes later.”
The shooting at the bar left two people dead and 14 others injured. Three of which were in critical condition. Codeaux said one of the people injured in the shooting was his friend.
“There’s a pit in your stomach. You just can’t believe it,” he said. “That it just missed his vitals. It could have been much worse.”
Austin Police confirmed the suspected shooter was shot and killed by APD officers as Diagne started walking towards E 6th St. following the shooting at Buffords. Although Codeaux watched it all go down from across the street, he said he was one wrong move away from his tragedy.
“If I had stopped to grab water, or if I’d seen a friend on the way out of the bar, stayed for four or five more minutes, now I’m on the patio when he drives by in the car, and then who knows what happens,” Codeaux said.
Austin Police say the investigation is ongoing.