AUSTIN, Texas — One person was killed and thirteen others were injured in a mass shooting on 6th Street in downtown Austin this weekend.
One bartender who witnessed the shooting recounted the moments of chaos and panic that followed.
“From what I know the shooting occurred like right in this area right here…I was standing on that corner right over there," said Taylor Blount.
He had stepped outside the bar he works at on 6th Street for a breather when shots rang out early Saturday morning around 1:30 a.m.
He was about 600 feet away.
"Everyone started running in different directions, people falling down," said Blount.
He said he ran back inside the bar and locked the doors.
“The first thing I thought was to kind of like, make sure to protect the people who were at my bar and just get everyone to cover honestly," said Blount.
He says a few minutes later, he went out the bar’s back door and saw police carrying a man who was injured.
“He had a gunshot wound to his right rib," said Blount.
He said he felt it was safe. “After there were no more shots for about two minutes, and seeing the police response… then we kind of opened the doors and started pushing people out," said Blount, who then took photos of the aftermath.
“It cleared out pretty quickly after that. It was dead. Probably in about 15 minutes, everyone was leaving," said Blount.
He says that less than 12 hours later, 6th Street was back to business as usual.
“By 12 p.m., it was packed with bikers. Everything was shut down again, their bikes lining four blocks of the street. And lots of people drinking at 12 p.m. on Saturday," said Blount.
Though the historic district seems to have gone back to normal, Blount says he won’t be so quick to forget.
“Obviously there’s like an air of caution, now, everywhere. And a lot of people will kind of be more on edge, especially on September 1st when permitless carry [goes into effect]," said Blount.