Gunman wearing Iranian flag emblem kills 2 in mass shooting at Texas bar

The suspect drove past the bar several times before stopping and shooting a pistol out the window of his SUV at people on a patio and in front of the bar.

By The Associated Press

A gunman opened fire outside a bar in a popular entertainment district in the Texas capital of Austin, killing two people early Sunday in a mass shooting.

He was wearing a sweatshirt that said “Property of Allah,” and another shirt with an Iranian flag design, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

The shooting left 14 others wounded, including three who were critically injured, before officers killed the shooter, police said.

The shooter has been identified as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne, the law enforcement official and another person familiar with the matter said.

The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.

The shooting erupted a day after Israel and the United States launched an attack on Iran that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The FBI said it was investigating the shooting as a potential act of terrorism.

Diagne was originally from Senegal, according to multiple people briefed on the investigation. One of the people told the AP that Diagne came to the US in 2006 and was a naturalized US citizen.

Officers in Austin shot and killed the gunman, who used both a pistol and a rifle to carry out the attack, police said. The FBI said the shooting was being investigated as a potential act of terrorism.

The suspect drove past the bar several times before stopping and shooting a pistol out the window of his SUV at people on a patio and in front of the bar, said Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis.

The gunman then parked the vehicle, got out with a rifle, and began shooting at people walking in the area before officers who rushed to the intersection shot him, Davis said.

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.

The FBI is investigating whether the shooting early Sunday was act of terrorism because of “indicators” found on the gunman and in his vehicle, 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.

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 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 multi-story bar, there were overturned tables and drinks left behind by fleeing customers.

Another shooting early Sunday at a Cincinnati nightclub and concert venue wounded nine people, police in Ohio said.

All nine had gunshot wounds, but none were non-life threatening, said Adam Hennie, the city’s interim police chief.