Gunman who opened fire on crowded Texas bar was not on FBI radar before attack, authorities say
By JIM VERTUNO and LEKAN OYEKANAMI
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The gunman who opened fire outside a Texas bar and killed two people in an attack that wounded 14 others was not on the radar of authorities before the attack, federal and local investigators said Monday.
Both the FBI and police in Austin said Monday that it’s too soon to identify the motive behind the mass shooting early Sunday.
The FBI has said it’s investigating the shooting as a potential act of terrorism, coming after the U.S. and Israel launched an attack on Iran.
“Our ultimate goal in everything we do is to determine the motive,” Alex Doran, the acting agent in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio office, said during a news conference.
Police identified the gunman as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne. He was wearing clothes with an Iranian flag design and bearing the words “Property of Allah” during the attack, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
Investigators are poring over thousands of hours of video and police said there are more than 150 witnesses to interview.
The gunman legally bought the weapons used in the attack several years ago in San Antonio, said Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis.
She identified the two victims as 24-year-old Savitha Shan and 22-year-old Ryder Harrington.
Harrington was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Texas Tech University, his fraternity said in an Instagram post.
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.
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 the Department of Homeland Security.
The shooting erupted outside Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden along Sixth Street, a nightlife destination filled with bars and music clubs close to the University of Texas at Austin.
The gunman drove past the bar that was packed with students before circling back and firing the first shots from his SUV at people on the sidewalk and inside the bar, police said.
Inside the bar and across the street next to a food truck, some students dove for cover while others were motionless, trying to understand what was happening.
The shooting stopped for a moment.
The suspect parked, got out with a rifle and began shooting at others before officers rushed to the intersection and shot him, the police chief said.
University of Texas at Austin President Jim Davis said Sunday that some of those affected included “members of our Longhorn family.”
The FBI said just hours after the shooting that they found “indicators” on the gunman and in his vehicle leading them to look into the possibility of terrorism.
Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer, Eric Tucker and Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed.