AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Newly released police body camera footage shows bargoers and pedestrians fleeing and ducking for cover in the moments after a gunman began firing outside a Texas bar, leaving three dead in what is being investigated as potential terrorism.
“Everybody down!” one officer yells. “Where is he?”
The terrifying moments captured on video by officers and surveillance cameras that were released Thursday show how the shooting that wounded more than a dozen others unfolded quickly early Sunday in downtown Austin’s entertainment district.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said officers arrived within 56 seconds of the first 911 call, shooting and killing the suspect after he fired at police.
Davis said the investigation is ongoing and would not discuss a possible motive for the shooting that erupted a day after the U.S. and Israel launched an attack on Iran.
The FBI has said it’s investigating the shooting as a potential act of terrorism and a law enforcement official told The Associated Press that the gunman was wearing clothes with an Iranian flag design and bearing the words “Property of Allah.”
Police have identified the gunman as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne and say he legally bought the pistol and rifle that he used in the attack outside Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden. The venue is on Sixth Street, a nightlife destination filled with bars and music clubs close to the University of Texas at Austin..
Authorities now know 19 people were hit by gunfire, including the three who died, Davis said Thursday. One person remains in critical condition.
Most of those who were shot were outside the bar, including one victim who was waiting for a ride, she said.
Screaming and shouts of “get down” can be heard on a 911 call released Thursday. “There has been a shooting at Buford’s,” one caller said. ”There are people dead over here. We need help right now.”
Source: WPLG
