AUSTIN, Texas — As of Sunday one suspect is in custody in connection to a shocking mass shooting in downtown Austin, Texas, early Saturday morning that injured 14 people, two of them critically.
As Austin police, the FBI and other agencies search for the second suspect, there are new fears concerning gun violence around the scene of the shooting.
Sixth Street is Austin’s busiest bar and entertainment scene. It was a virtual ghost town during the pandemic but since COVID-19 case numbers have gone done and restrictions have been lifted, locals and tourists have returned to the nightlife hotspot at pre-pandemic levels.
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Anyone who has visited knows what it’s like on a Friday night: Live music fills bars. The street is filled with bustling crowds. Drinks flow.
But it’s not a nightlife destination for everyone. For some, it’s home.
Austin resident Javier Garza lives just steps from where the shooting occurred. He’s not there to party. In fact, given recent events, he says he may not be there at all for much longer.
Garza moved to the area to be closer to work. He thought finding a home along the busy stretch was a stroke of luck. Three years later, he doesn’t feel lucky.
“[I live] about 20-30 feet from where those bloodstains are on the side of the street,” Garza said.
Garza is used to loud noises coming from outside his window late into the night but what he heard early Saturday morning was different.
“All of a sudden I heard the music stop around a little after 1:30, and I went, ‘It’s not 2 o’clock here. Why?’ And I didn’t hear any announcement for, you know, last call or anything. And then I heard, you known, I heard something that sounded like shots. It didn’t sound right,” Garza said.
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Garza said what he heard sounded like five gunshots, but later Saturday morning, after a conversation with his roommate, he found out there were many more than five.
“When my roommate finally came in, he said he saw it actually happened right here, right there. And he told me and I was like, ‘I can’t.’ So another reason why to leave the city,” Garza said.
When Garza tried to leave his home Saturday morning following the shooting, he was instructed by Austin police to remain inside.
“There was tape across my door. And when I peeked outside to take pictures, there was about two dozen officers,” he said. “They said, ‘What are you doing today?’ ‘I live upstairs [I replied].’ They said, ‘You need to go back inside.’
Garza is now contemplating packing up and moving out of town.