AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A gunman wearing clothes with an Iranian flag design and declaring “Property of Allah” killed two people and wounded 14 early Sunday at a Texas bar, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The FBI is investigating the shooting, which erupted a day after the U.S. and Israel launched an attack on Iran, as a potential act of terrorism.
Police in Austin shot and killed the gunman, who used both a pistol and a rifle to carry out the attack, police said.
The suspect drove past the bar several times before stopping and shooting from the window of his SUV at people on a patio and in front of the bar, according to Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis.
He then parked, got out with a rifle and began shooting at people walking along the street before officers rushed to the intersection and shot him, Davis said. Three of the injured were in critical condition Sunday morning, she said.
The gunman was identified as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
He 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 became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2013, the department said. Diagne was originally from Senegal, according to multiple people briefed on the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.
Authorities found “indicators” on the gunman and in his vehicle leading the FBI to look into the possibility of terrorism, said Alex Doran, the acting agent in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio office.
“It’s still too early to make a determination on that,” Doran said Sunday morning.
The White House said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the shooting.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott warned that the state would respond aggressively to anyone trying to “use the current conflict in the Middle East to threaten Texas.”
“We will not be intimidated, and we will not be terrorized,” he said in a statement.
The shooting happened outside Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden just before 2 a.m. along Sixth Street, a nightlife destination filled with bars and music clubs and only a few miles (kilometers) from the University of Texas.
The school’s president said on social media that some of those impacted included “members of our Longhorn family.”
“Our prayers are with the victims and all those impacted,” said university President Jim Davis.
The entertainment district has a heavy police presence on weekends, and officers were able to confront the gunman within a minute of the first call for help, Davis said.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson praised the fast response by police and rescuers.
“They definitely saved lives,” he said.
One of the victims was found in the street between two parked cars. Inside the multistory bar, there were overturned tables and drinks left behind by fleeing customers.
There have been at least two other high-profile shootings in Austin’s Sixth Street entertainment district within the past five years, including one in the summer of 2021 that left 14 people wounded. Although this weekend’s shooting doesn’t meet the definition of a mass killing, there have been five of those so far this year.
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This story has been corrected to say that Diagne came to the United States in 2000, not 2006. An AP source briefed on the investigation but not authorized to discuss it publicly originally said he came to the United States in 2006. The Department of Homeland Security later said he came in 2000.
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Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio; and Durkin Richer and Tucker from Washington. Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana in Washington and Olivia Diaz in Richmond, Virginia, contributed. ___ Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
