Federal and native legislation enforcement officers are persevering with to research on Monday a potential terrorism motive in a mass shooting over the weekend in Austin, Texas, during which a suspect killed two individuals and injured greater than a dozen others earlier than being fatally shot by police.
Throughout a information convention on Monday, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis recognized the 2 victims killed within the taking pictures as 24-year-old Savitha Shan, a scholar on the College of Texas, and 22-year-old Ryder Harrington, a scholar at Texas Tech College.
Davis stated three victims injured within the taking pictures on Sunday stay hospitalized in important situation, however one was scheduled to be faraway from life assist on Monday. A complete of 14 victims have been injured within the taking pictures, police officers stated at an earlier information convention.
The suspect has been recognized as Ndiaga Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Senegal, sources with information of the matter instructed ABC Information.
Obtained by ABC Information.
The FBI stated on Sunday it was investigating a potential terrorism motive for the taking pictures, which started outdoors a bar in Austin’s busy downtown West Sixth Avenue leisure district.
The suspect has been recognized as Ndiaga Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Senegal, sources with information of the matter instructed ABC Information.
Davis stated the suspect was residing in Pflugerville, Texas, a suburb of Austin.
The suspect was carrying a sweatshirt that referenced Allah and a T-shirt beneath that referenced Iran, a number of sources with information of the investigation instructed ABC Information.
Austin cops work on the scene after a lethal mass taking pictures outdoors Buford’s, a preferred roadhouse-style bar in Austin, Texas, U.S. March 1, 2026.
Nuri Vallbona/Reuters
ABC Information has obtained {a photograph} taken of the suspect after he was killed that reveals he was carrying a T-shirt with the Iranian flag on it. Chief Davis stated on Monday that the suspect’s T-shirt additionally had the picture of the late Shah of Iran.
In 1979, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was overthrown within the Iranian Revolution, which ushered within the regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
A day earlier than the Austin taking pictures, a major military operation in Iran was launched by the U.S. and Israel, which killed Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, the supreme chief of the nation who had succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini upon his loss of life in 1989.
“Our final aim in every thing we do is decide a motive,” stated Alex Doran, the appearing particular agent accountable for the FBI’s San Antonio area workplace. “We’re on the lookout for connections that he [the suspect] probably had.”
Doran introduced on Sunday that investigators have been probing terrorism as a potential motive, saying, “There have been indicators on the topic and in his automobile that point out potential nexus to terrorism.”
Throughout Monday’s information convention, Doran stated it might be untimely to make a dedication on motive.
“We’re poring via 1000’s of hours of video. We’ve large quantities of digital and bodily proof. And that is an around-the-clock, 24-hour investigation at this level,” Doran stated.
Doran added, “We need to guarantee that we have now our info 100%.”
Davis stated investigators are interviewing about 150 witnesses.
Davis stated police are nonetheless going over the suspect’s legal historical past and plan to launch particulars later this week.
She stated the gun the suspect used within the taking pictures was bought legally in 2017 in San Antonio.
Davis stated 911 callers started reporting a taking pictures on West Sixth Avenue in downtown Austin simply earlier than 2 a.m. on Sunday. She stated the 911 callers said that somebody was taking pictures round Buford’s Bar.
Davis stated the suspect drove a big SUV a number of occasions across the block that Buford’s is situated on, firing a gun at individuals out of his rolled-down window, hanging patrons of the bar on the institution’s patio and out of doors the entrance door.
Davis stated the suspect then parked his automobile, acquired out and opened fireplace on individuals gathered on the sidewalk.
The suspect was killed in a confrontation with cops, who have been already staged within the metropolis’s leisure district when the taking pictures broke out, Davis stated.
A legislation enforcement unit sits on the entrance to Buford’s bar in downtown Austin, Texas, March 01, 2026, in Austin, after a mass taking pictures left three individuals, together with the alleged gunman, useless and 14 others hospitalized.
Brandon Bell/Getty Pictures
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson stated that because of the fast response of police and emergency medical providers, “A number of lives have been saved.”
Harrington, one of many victims killed within the rampage, was a scholar at Texas Tech College and was an lively member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, which launched a press release about him.
“Ryder was a beloved son, brother, and good friend whose kindness and presence touched numerous lives,” his fraternity stated. “From the second he joined our brotherhood, he introduced a lightweight that was inconceivable to disregard.”
The fraternity added, “Ryder had a uncommon capacity to get pleasure from life, to make individuals chortle, to make moments really feel larger, and to make abnormal days unforgettable. If anybody embodied what it meant to reside totally and love deeply, it was Ryder.”
Shan, the opposite sufferer killed within the taking pictures, was a scholar on the College of Texas, officers stated.
Ryder Harrington, a scholar at Texas Tech College, seen right here in a photograph supplied on Instagram by his fraternity, was certainly one of two victims killed in Sunday’s mass taking pictures in Austin, Texas.
@ttubeta/Instagram
“In the present day, it was confirmed that amongst those that misplaced their lives is one UT scholar. A baby of loving mother and father. A loyal good friend to many. A Longhorn making ready to alter the world,” Jim Davis, president of the College of Texas, stated in a press release about Shan. “It’s devastating, and I do know all of us are grieved by this horrible information and we are going to keep in mind her.”
Jim Davis additionally stated various College of Texas college students sustained accidents within the assault.
“A few of these are very severe and we hope for the most effective outcomes, whereas others are on the trail to restoration,” Jim Davis stated. “I’ve met with many of those households and can proceed to wish for them. The entire households, mates, and family members affected by this tragedy will want time for grief and therapeutic, and we provide them our full assist.”
