AUSTIN, Texas — As investigators continue probing a deadly mass shooting on Sixth Street this past weekend, state leaders are offering different explanations for what happened and ideas for preventing future incidents.

Authorities say the shooting occurred just before 2 a.m. Sunday as bars were closing. Austin police report that 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne opened fire outside Buford’s on West Sixth Street before officers shot and killed him.

The Department of Homeland Security says Diagne moved to the U.S. from Senegal in 2000 and later became a naturalized citizen.

Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said the state is taking extra security measures while federal authorities investigate the shooting as a potential act of terrorism. “Texas has redoubled the personnel on the ground to make sure we keep our communities as safe as possible,” he said. “As long as this war is going on, we need to be safe against potential attacks, like what happened in Austin, Texas, this weekend.”

Some Republican leaders are raising questions about immigration policy in light of Diagne’s background.

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Dozens of House Republicans also sent a letter to Congress calling for more funding for Homeland Security, a pause on immigration, and a freeze on H-1B visas wSONhile potential threats are identified.

Democratic candidate for governor Gina Hinojosa, speaking at a rally in Austin Monday, focused on gun policy and trust in state leadership. “Honestly, there are a lot of people who don’t know what to believe or who to trust. There is a lot of work to do to rebuild that trust, to stop playing political games with law enforcement as we have seen Greg Abbott do,” she said.

Polling from the University of Texas at Tyler shows 49 percent of registered voters would support Abbott if the election were held today, compared to 41 percent for Hinojosa.

Rice University political science professor Mark P. Jones said the tragedy is unlikely to shift votes. “Because gun control, immigration, and Islam all sort of have set patterns within both primary electorates Most Democrats are convinced by the Democratic message for gun control. Most Republicans are convinced by the Republican message of more controls on immigration,” he said.