{"id":186429,"date":"2026-03-02T06:18:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T06:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/186429\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T06:18:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T06:18:23","slug":"what-we-know-about-the-mass-shooting-in-downtown-austin-that-killed-3-injured-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/186429\/","title":{"rendered":"What we know about the mass shooting in downtown Austin that killed 3, injured 14"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2013 Law enforcement is investigating a mass shooting in downtown Austin<\/a> that killed three people, including a suspect, and hospitalized 14 others early Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

Ndiaga Diagne, 53, has been identified as the shooter, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we know about the shooting.<\/p>\n

3 dead, 14 hospitalized<\/p>\n

Two people were killed, and 14 others were hospitalized during the mass shooting early Saturday morning in front of Buford\u2019s bar on West 6th Street.<\/p>\n

Paramedics and police officers began treating patients just before 2 a.m., Austin EMS Chief Robert Luckritz said, less than a minute after the first call was made to 911.<\/p>\n

Diagne allegedly repeatedly drove around the block multiple times in a large SUV, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said, before turning on his flashers, rolling down his window and firing from his vehicle using a pistol.<\/p>\n

The SUV then proceeded westbound on 6th Street to Wood Street, where Diagne parked and exited the vehicle before opening fire on those walking by.<\/p>\n

Officers who were already on 6th Street confronted Diagne, returning fire and killing him.<\/p>\n

Sources told ABC News<\/a> the suspect initially fired five to seven shots from a handgun into a crowd of people before police said he exited his vehicle and was confronted by Austin Police officers. <\/p>\n

Motive remains under investigation, FBI says \u2018terrorism\u2019 possible<\/p>\n

Diagne is a naturalized citizen originally from Senegal, the Department of Homeland Security said.<\/p>\n

His motive remains under investigation, but the FBI said it could be motivated by terrorism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were indicators on the subject and in his vehicle that indicate potential nexus to terrorism,\u201d said Alex Doran, acting special agent in charge of the FBI\u2019s San Antonio field office. \u201cAgain, it\u2019s still too early to make a determination on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The downtown Austin shooting took place one day after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The AP\u2019s source said he was wearing clothing that said \u201cproperty of Allah\u201d and had an Iranian flag design.<\/p>\n

ABC News\u2019 sources said law enforcement is also investigating whether Diagne had mental health issues.<\/p>\n

The shooting is considered an isolated incident, rather than part of a larger plot, the source told ABC.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump has been briefed regarding the shooting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a social media post<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Suspect used to live in San Antonio, ex-wife told ABC News<\/p>\n

A woman who identified herself as Diagne\u2019s ex-wife told ABC News they moved to San Antonio together from New York in 2017.<\/p>\n

Police Chief Davis said Diagne was living in Pflugerville prior to the shooting.<\/p>\n

The woman said they moved to Texas because they wanted more space for their family, including their two children.<\/p>\n

She said they divorced in 2022 and that she has not spoken to Diagne in four or five years. The woman said she knew nothing about the shooting and was shocked to hear about it.<\/p>\n

Diagne\u2019s ex-wife confirmed he was religious, but did not elaborate.<\/p>\n

Diagne entered country on tourist visa, married US citizen, DHS Says<\/p>\n

Diagne first entered the U.S in 2000 on a B-2 tourist visa and became a lawful permanent resident six years later after marrying a U.S. citizen, according to DHS. He was naturalized in 2013.<\/p>\n

Diagne was originally from Senegal, multiple people briefed on the investigation told the AP, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.<\/p>\n

Greg Abbott says state not shaken by attack, promises action against threats<\/p>\n

Gov. Greg Abbott said the shooting would not \u201cdefine (Texas), nor will it shake the resolve of Texans,\u201d in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo anyone who thinks about using the current conflict in the Middle East to threaten Texans or our critical infrastructure,\u201d Abbott said, \u201cunderstand this clearly: Texas will respond with decisive and overwhelming force to protect our state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abbott said he directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to increase patrols in downtown Austin on Sunday<\/a>, in addition to his directive from yesterday aiming to safeguard energy facilities, ports, and the southern border.<\/p>\n

Republicans blame shooting on \u2018radical\u2019 Islamic beliefs, immigration system while Democrats advocate for gun control<\/p>\n

Abbott issued a strong warning to anyone seeking to use the attack on Iran as an opportunity to threaten Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo anyone who thinks about using the current conflict in the Middle East to threaten Texans or our critical infrastructure,\u201d Abbott said, \u201cunderstand this clearly: Texas will respond with decisive and overwhelming force to protect our state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although a motive has not yet been identified in the shooting, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said in his statement about the shooting that \u201cradical\u201d Islam had no place in Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo those who wish to harm Americans or commit acts of terrorism in the name of Islam,\u201d Cornyn said, \u201cyou and your beliefs are not welcome here, and we will use every tool in our arsenal to ensure justice is swiftly served.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, issued a series of social media posts on Sunday, arguing that the country\u2019s immigration pathways are broken and are to blame for the shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cSTOP TALKING ABOUT HOW GREAT \u2018LEGAL\u2019 IMMIGRATION IS,\u201d Roy said in a post. \u201cIT\u2019S KILLING US. LITERALLY.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy later asked fellow congressmen to pass House Resolution 6225, which he introduced last November.<\/p>\n

Also known as the PAUSE Act, H.R. 6225 would severely limit the ability for any visa to be issued until immigration laws reflect certain provisions listed in the resolution.<\/p>\n

On the opposite side of the aisle, San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones and U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, argued guns are to blame.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must prevent such tragedies from happening through commonsense gun solutions,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil Republicans find the courage to say no to the NRA,\u201d Doggett said, \u201cour country will be plagued with more tragedies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Journalists with ABC News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

This story is developing. Check back later for updates.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2013 Law enforcement is investigating a mass shooting in downtown Austin that killed three people, including…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,4761,3646,392,74299,82,95,7096],"class_list":{"0":"post-186429","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news","11":"tag-austin-police-department","12":"tag-fbi","13":"tag-greg-abbott","14":"tag-ndiaga-diagne","15":"tag-san-antonio","16":"tag-shooting","17":"tag-terrorism"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}