{"id":246843,"date":"2026-04-12T22:21:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T22:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/246843\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T22:21:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T22:21:16","slug":"gun-store-owner-defends-employee-in-deadly-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/246843\/","title":{"rendered":"Gun store owner defends employee in deadly shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN (KXAN) \u2014 Police are continuing to investigate a homicide<\/a> that happened outside a nightclub near East 7th Street on Friday night.<\/p>\n

According to the Austin Police Department, officers responded after reports of gunfire near the Cabana Club. Investigators say a group of people outside the club were involved in an altercation shortly before shots were fired.<\/p>\n

Police sources confirmed with KXAN that a suspect has been arrested and charged with murder.<\/p>\n

However, Central Texas Gunworks owner Michael Cargill said two of his employees were involved and were caught in violence they were not part of. Cargill believes the worker who fired the gun is now facing a murder charged. KXAN is working to get the affidavit for this incident. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey immediately started jumping on my employees, assaulting them, to the point that one of my employees was knocked down and then several more people jumped in and then it turned into 12 people attacking my employees against two people,\u201d said Michael Cargill, owner of Central Texas Guns Works.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is all because they mistook my my employees as someone they had a disagreement with inside the bar,\u201d said Cargill.<\/p>\n

\t
\n\t\tMAP: Where have Austin\u2019s homicides occurred in 2026?\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Cargill said another employee stepped in after seeing his coworker unconscious.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy other employee saw that he was unconscious and made the decision to pull out his firearm and stop the threat. My employee did exactly what I would have and done and exactly what he\u2019s been trained to do,\u201d Cargill said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make sure it\u2019s very clear that my employees did exactly what they were supposed to do. They defended themselves. They were being attacked. Someone tried to kill them,\u201d said Cargill.<\/p>\n

Cargill told KXAN one employee is an assistant manager and another is a sales clerk at Central Texas Gun Works.<\/p>\n

For local businesses in the area, Friday night\u2019s shooting is as a surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been with \u2018Hi Sign\u2019 for about two years and nothing like this has happened. It is definitely surprising to have something hit so close to home. You know, we\u2019re a really quiet neighborhood, very community focused, walkable,\u201d said JR Sciuto, General manager at \u2018Hi Sign Brewing\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really hope that, you know, people can still be able to enjoy the neighborhood, feel safe and, and still come out,\u201d said Sciuto<\/p>\n

During a press conference Friday night, police confirmed several people were injured in the incident and took themselves to local hospitals. Authorities have not released information about the victim or additional circumstances surrounding the shooting.<\/p>\n

Cargill said one of his employees suffered serious injuries, including bruised ribs.<\/p>\n

Police say the investigation remains ongoing, and additional details have not yet been released. Officials confirmed the case is being investigated as Austin\u2019s 20th homicide of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN (KXAN) \u2014 Police are continuing to investigate a homicide that happened outside a nightclub near East 7th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,93872,294,93873,95],"class_list":["post-246843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-central-texas-gun-works","tag-crime","tag-east-7th-street","tag-shooting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246843","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=246843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}