University of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

University of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanUniversity of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

University of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanFlowers lay on the steps of the University of Texas Tower as students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray and listen to speakers from Student Government.

Flowers lay on the steps of the University of Texas Tower as students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray and listen to speakers from Student Government.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanUniversity of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

University of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanUniversity of Texas students Giselle Hoang, left, and Bhuvi Sanghavi holds hands during a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

University of Texas students Giselle Hoang, left, and Bhuvi Sanghavi holds hands during a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanUniversity of Texas Student Body President Hudson Thomas speaks to a gathered crowd at a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

University of Texas Student Body President Hudson Thomas speaks to a gathered crowd at a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanUniversity of Texas President Jim Davis greets attendees as students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

University of Texas President Jim Davis greets attendees as students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanUniversity of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

University of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanUniversity of Texas students and community members lay flowers on the UT Tower steps after a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026.

University of Texas students and community members lay flowers on the UT Tower steps after a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanThe UT Brass Quintet performs on the steps of main hall as University of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

The UT Brass Quintet performs on the steps of main hall as University of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanJosh Albert, a University of Texas MBA student holds a candle while waiting for programming to begin as students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

Josh Albert, a University of Texas MBA student holds a candle while waiting for programming to begin as students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanUniversity of Texas Student Body Vice President Thierry Chu speaks to students and community members gathered for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026.

University of Texas Student Body Vice President Thierry Chu speaks to students and community members gathered for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanFlowers rest of the steps of the tower as University of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026.

Flowers rest of the steps of the tower as University of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanUniversity of Texas Student Body President Hudson Thomas, left, Vice President Thierry Chu and Chief of Staff Rowan Hamilton leave the steps after speaking to students and community members gathered for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

University of Texas Student Body President Hudson Thomas, left, Vice President Thierry Chu and Chief of Staff Rowan Hamilton leave the steps after speaking to students and community members gathered for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanUniversity of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

University of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanUniversity of Texas junior finance major Graham Young prays during a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

University of Texas junior finance major Graham Young prays during a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanUniversity of Texas students and community members pray on the UT Tower steps after a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026.

University of Texas students and community members pray on the UT Tower steps after a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanUniversity of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

University of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanUniversity of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

University of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanUniversity of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

University of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-StatesmanUniversity of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

University of Texas students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday night to remember and pray for the three people shot and killed, including UT student Savitha Shan, in Sunday morning’s mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin, March 4, 2026. Around 300 people gathered on the Main Mall to pray, listen to speakers from Student Government and lay flowers on the Tower steps.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman

UT upperclassmen know Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden as a go-to spot. Just a few miles south of campus, the Austin establishment is a place students know they can bump into friends, dance to pop favorites and be in community. 

But after last weekend’s deadly shooting on West Sixth Street, some don’t know if they’ll go out again at all.

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Two people — including a University of Texas student — died at the scene of a mass shooting at Buford’s in the early hours of Sunday morning, and police fatally shot the gunman, authorities said. A third victim died at the hospital the next day.

Days later, University of Texas students describe campus as shaken and sorrowful, weighed down by new fear and anxiety about their safety in the city they love. For some, the West Sixth Street shooting was their first personal contact with gun violence. 

“Everyone has a friend of a friend impacted,” UT sophomore Evan Martinez said. “There’s always that looming fear after. (It’s) so close to home.”

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Lale O’Reilly and Eva Breslin, exchange students from the United Kingdom, knew the United States and Texas had less gun restrictions than their country when they came to UT. But they said they hadn’t felt the impact of that until Sunday morning. 

Breslin was out on Sixth Street that night, but she left before the shooting. A friend of hers was on the Buford’s patio when shots were fired. That friend hid in the bathroom until someone found her. 

“It’s hard to wrap your head around. It’s very much somewhere that we’ve been going since we arrived,” Breslin said about Buford’s. 

In the days after the shooting, UT has increased security and police patrols around campus and advertised mental health resources for students, who can access them for free. 

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Many believe the university’s increased security and mental health awareness has positively supported students. Students appreciated the president’s acknowledgement of the tragedy and the heaviness on campus. But many are still very afraid.

O’Reilly, a junior, said there is an intense solemn mood across the Forty Acres after the shooting. None of her professors openly mentioned the attack in classes; she wishes they had. 

“Because if you go back to normal after something like that, it becomes more normalized,” O’Reilly said.

Multiple students cited concerns of rumors of rising crime in Austin or West Campus. Martinez said he was getting a haircut when an ambulance passed. Everyone in the barber shop flinched at the sound and tensed their shoulders. Campus, he said, is more on edge.

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Early in the week, reports began to circulate of someone threatening students on West Campus with a weapon. UT police have since said those reports  were unsubstantiated, but fear remains.

Some students flocked to UT’s free mental health services. Others, like Kiran Sohail, requested free campus escorts offered by West Campus Ambassadors to get her home safe at night. 

“Honestly, it feels like there’s still more things happening, every day,” UT junior Brooke Willingham said. “It’s all just really sad and awful. I don’t really know if there’s anything that can be done now.” 

UT students gather to mourn

Throughout the grief, students have sought ways to show their support for fellow Longhorns. On Wednesday afternoon, students waited on 21st Street to donate at a mobile blood drive. 

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Students Demand Action, a gun violence prevention group, held a vigil with 200 students in attendance Tuesday night. The day after, the UT student government hosted their own.

About 300 people gathered under the UT Tower Wednesday. A brass quintet played a slow rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” as the dusk light illuminated students’ candles. 

Freshman Trey Rolston handed out electric candles from a basket as students walked onto the main mall. While it’s not surprising to him that gun violence happens in the abstract, it’s not something he ever thought would affect his community directly, he said. 

He has friends who planned to go to Buford’s on Saturday but changed their minds at the last minute. 

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“It’s a little scary thinking if they had been in that position,” Rolston said. 

Rolston is a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, the same Greek organization that 19-year-old Harrington was a member of at Texas Tech University. The UT fraternity chapter attended the vigil in solidarity with the Texas Tech chapter and also plans to donate to his family, Rolston said. 

Crystal Lerner, a junior, came to the vigil to pay her respects to Shan, the 21-year-old UT student killed Sunday morning.

“It’s just really crazy thinking about how much of an impact she had on everyone’s lives here, and how it really could have been any of us,” Lerner said. 

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As the UT Tower bells rang throughout the breezy evening, students hugged and gazed skyward at the tower. Student Government President Hudson Thomas reminded students “to care for one another more intentionally.” 

Several students laid bouquets of red and white roses and colorful flowers on the steps of the tower after the formal vigil. 

With bowed heads, friends and classmates wrapped their arms around each other. 

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Outside of official messages from university administrators, students have been finding ways to support one another in their grief: sharing mental health resources or links to fundraising pages for students harmed in the shooting and visiting survivors in the hospital, sophomore Noah Chia said.

“There’s a lot more initiative from students to help,” Chia said.