AUSTIN, Texas — A manager working near West Sixth Street says he knew immediately the sounds he heard just before 2 a.m. were gunshots.

“I was just closing up shop, counting the money for the day, and initially I had heard several shots, a small burst, and immediately clocked it as gunshots,” said Bobby Medrano, manager at Favorite Pizza. “Then I heard the second firing of shots, my first instinct was to just drop to the ground.”

Medrano was alone inside the restaurant when the gunfire erupted nearby. Unsure where the shots were coming from or whether the shooter was still outside, he took cover and stayed there.

“I waited probably about 25 to 30 minutes just on the ground, moving as little as possible,” he said. “The main thing that I saw was just people sprinting down West Avenue.”

At first, he thought it might have been an argument that escalated. It wasn’t until hours later, after he made it home, that he learned the scale of what had happened.

“Around 5 a.m. I looked at the news, and that’s when I saw that it was one person with several firearms and several people were injured,” Medrano said. “That was when I realized what happened.”

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Three people were killed. Dozens more were injured.

For Medrano, the reality of how close he was to the violence is still sinking in.

“It’s very surreal,” he said. “You never really think that you’re going to be involved in one of these situations. It’s heavy, and it’s hard.”

He says he knows some of the employees at nearby bars, people who stop in for a slice from time to time, and he immediately worried about them when he realized where the shots were coming from. Thankfully, he says, none of the staff members he knows were hurt.

In the aftermath, several businesses along West Sixth temporarily closed their doors in solidarity. Medrano says his company is offering counseling services not just to its own employees, but to workers at neighboring bars and restaurants as well.

“I think there are things that are bigger than pizza and beer,” he said. “We wanted to make sure that we stood in solidarity with the staff and everybody else who was affected.”

Medrano says he feels grateful to be safe and hopes the tight-knit nightlife community will continue leaning on each other in the difficult days ahead.