Austin-Travis County EMS medics Jennifer Barnhart and Diamond Horton lean on each other and EMS family to work through aftermath of the trauma.

AUSTIN, Texas — More than 50 EMS medics rushed to the scene of the mass shooting at Buford’s early Sunday morning, and now they contend with the trauma of the aftermath. 

“Now that I’ve had time to sit with it myself, it’s still pretty heavy. This isn’t something that’s going to go away anytime soon,” Jennifer Barnhart with Austin-Travis County EMS said. “This is a big event. This is the biggest event that I’ve had to work since being on the CASTMED team or in my EMS career at all.” 


Responding to the scene in 57 seconds

Barnhart and  colleague Diamond Horton were among the many first responders answering the emergency calls that came in just before 2 a.m. March 1. 

Both were part of the brigade of ATCEMS and APD crews posted up at the Sixth Street entertainment district, known as Counter-Assault Strike Team Paramedics (CASTMED). Both arrived at the scene at Buford’s in 57 seconds, according to city officials. Both have even been with the department before the mass shooting in 2021 at Sixth Street.

Neither Horton nor Barnhart worked the scene of the June 2021 shooting that left one dead and 14 others hurt. Neither of them worked a scene like the one filled with numerous injuries and deaths Sunday morning. 

Barnhart felt emergency crews could only be so prepared for what they saw in Sunday’s critical incident that has since left three dead and 13 others injured. The suspected shooter was also shot and killed by police at the scene. 

“So, the potential of that has always been there, hence our training, why we’ve trained so hard to be ready for that,” Barnhart said. “You can train as much as you want to, but it’s going to come down to how you fall back on your training when you have to go into a situation you’ve never run before and then build off what you’ve run in the past.”


Moving on in the aftermath

All there is left to do for the responding crews is to lean on each other. 

“I have received so much love and support from my coworkers and even from command. They’ve reached out personally called me. I’ve been offered mental health services,” Horton said. 

While the medics were working as quickly as they could, they also credit people at the bar with helping them keep patients alive. Horton and the EMS agency are big advocates of everyone having CPR and training to “stop the bleed.” 

Jorge Pederson, 30, died from his injuries on Monday night. APD said Pederson had to be taken off life support. 

Horton said it was hard to hear of Pederson’s passing. That now brings the death toll to three, with Ryder Harrington, 19, and Savitha Shan, 21, having been pronounced dead at the scene. 

“It hurts us. It takes a piece of our soul I guess in a way, right, when we can’t save everyone. It’s just something that we somewhat live with, right?” Horton said. 


Leaning on each other in the wake of trauma

Horton and Barnhart hug and share words of encouragement among other emergency workers coming in and out of ATCEMS headquarters near Downtown Austin. Horton even demonstrated the equipment he and other responding crews carried with them in case more gunfire broke out as they worked the scene. 

While the staff have each other to lean on in the aftermath of the shooting, ATCEMS told KVUE it plans to provide mental health resources for first responders. There is also a group meeting planed for this week to have an open conversation among those who were at scene to better work through any trauma. 

Police and federal agents are working to figure out the suspected shooter’s motive.Â