AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Federal and city authorities say the gunman who opened fire outside a Texas bar, killing two people and wounding 14 more was not on their radar before the attack.
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 after the U.S. and Israel launched an attack on Iran.
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.
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.
Diagne 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, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis 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.
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Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer, Eric Tucker and Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed.
